As meticulously plotted as any Fawlty Towers episode, only engineered for tragedy instead of comedy. Note I haven’t mentioned the much-vaunted social critique for which it’s been acclaimed – that’s because it devotes most of its energies to brilliantly wrought farces, not to analysis. That’s not to say there isn’t any of the latter. The film’s best sequence, which frames the disparity between the effects of a downpour on the rich and the needy, hits home the grim reality of its post-capitalist parable like nothing else. But the bulk of the drama rests on incident as a result of construction, not on the lives of its proponents. Take for instance, the inclusion of a subplot regarding a problem basement dweller. Though it hints at a downstairs/even further downstairs dynamic, primarily it’s a ploy, there to serve the final act’s bloody consummation – and that’s no bad thing. Incident realised with this level of precision is a rare art to behold. It doesn’t always have to make a point in the process.
A
Alex Crisp : Not Another Critic 