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Totally Tom's Cruel Comedies
To celebrate All My Friends Hate Me landing on BFI Player, its writers Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton (who also stars as Pete) pick their favourite dark comedies, where humour takes a sinister turn.
Press play for social unease, paranoid characters on the verge of a life crisis, scenes of heightened suspense that make you laugh (and wince) and excruciating, hand-wringing plotlines - curated by the comedy creatives known as Totally Tom.
Archipelago Archipelago
Drama 2011 109 mins Director: Joanna Hogg
Starring Tom Hiddleston, a family holiday to the Isles of Scilly sees fractures emerge in this sun-filled drama from Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir).
"We love the subtle, steady unspoken tension in this film. The understated portrayal of posh people as tragic and hopeless rather than as caricatures was inspiring."
The Square The Square
Comedy 2017 151 mins Director: Ruben Östlund
From director Ruben Östlund (Force Majeure) comes a satire on the hypocrisy of the art world, starring Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West. Winner of the Palme d'Or.
"Perfect skewering of the hypocrisies inherent amongst the privileged liberal elite. Contains a single scene where a man pretends to be a chimpanzee that feels like a masterpiece in and of itself. Two for the price of one."
Force Majeure Force Majeure
Drama 2014 120 mins Director: Ruben Östlund
A gutless moment comes to define a man in this glorious comedy of unease from the creator of Triangle of Sadness.
"Incredible achievement of growing a single awkward moment into an epic mess of human embarrassment and despair. Builds excruciating tension without ever resorting to depictions of violence, whilst also being insanely funny. A game changer for us."
Wake in Fright Wake in Fright
Drama 1971 109 mins Director: Ted Kotcheff
In this classic, broiling Australian thriller, an exasperated schoolteacher finds himself stranded in the dusty outback town of Bundanyabba, where the growing isolation and unhinged locals begin to eat away at his sanity.
"Long before we wrote AMFHM we watched this film and were stunned by the eerie, unrelenting sense of dread it creates. The sense of one’s sanity slowly and inexorably fraying is something we wanted to replicate. No one since has portrayed functioning alcoholism like Donald Pleasence."
Dogtooth Dogtooth
Drama 2009 93 mins Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Yorgos Lanthimos' scary, witty tale of a dysfunctional Greek family is original, ingenious and sadly relevant as a study of parent-child relationships
"This is such an uncompromising film, the confidence with which it plunges the audience into an absurd and frightening reality is hugely inspiring. Best dance sequence ever."
Prevenge Prevenge
Comedy 2017 88 mins Director: Alice Lowe
Alice Lowe directs and stars in this riotous tale of a pregnant serial killer, hellbent on revenge.
"We have loved Alice Lowe ever since our obsession with Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. This film was a trailblazer in the ‘elevated horror’ genre. It’s a triumph of how much can be achieved on a small budget by just perfectly executing the beats of humour and horror."
Wild Tales Wild Tales
Comedy 2014 122 mins Director: Damian Szifron
This Oscar-nominated, Almodóvar-produced anthology of six tales of ordinary madness is the most riotously enjoyable portmanteau film since Pulp Fiction.
"Such a satisfying format when done as well as this. Each film treads the line between drama and comedy perfectly. Ends with The Wedding Story which is a masterclass in using a single setting as a pressure cooker for the characters."
Flinch and squirm with All My Friends Hate Me
- a deliciously dark comedy about social paranoia.