One cut of the dead (5 Stars)

This year "Parasite" won the Oscar for the Best Film at the Academy Awards. It's the first time a film made in a language other than English has been given this honour. This sets a precedent for future awards, even if Donald Trump doesn't like it. Why can't he keep his mouth shut? He knows nothing about films. But then again, maybe he should talk about films more often, because he does less harm than when he talks about other things he knows nothing about. But I'm getting off the subject.

Some people at home who watched the Academy Awards or read about it in the newspapers think it means that "Parasite" is the best foreign language film ever. It's a very good film, but not the best. I could pick dozens of foreign films from the last 30 years, but today I'll only name one: "One cut of the dead" is a better film, in my opinion, and it should have won the Best Film Oscar the previous year. Unfortunately, nobody on the awards committee was brave enough to suggest it.

"One cut of the dead" is a favourite with the oh-so-smart film critics. It's earned a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, in contrast with "Parasite", which is only rated 99%. I'm not saying that I always agree with the infamous Tomatometer, but in this case I think the two scores are spot on.

The film is brilliantly and uniquely structured. It's divided into three chapters with approximately the same length. The first 37 minutes are a single take, which is the reason for the "One cut" in the title. Then the opening credits roll. This one cut was a pre-credits sequence! The second chapter begins a month previously and leads up to the beginning of the film. The third chapter runs in parallel to the first chapter. That's the closest I'm going to get to giving you spoilers.

It's a film about a zombie film being made. That makes it a meta-film, seemingly. It's actually a meta-meta-film.

Some reviewers call "One cut of the dead" a zombie comedy, comparing it with "Shaun of the Dead". I understand what they're saying, but I disagree. The first chapter is deadly serious. The second chapter has a lighter tone, but it's still serious. The laughs don't come until the third chapter, but by that time most viewers will be too stunned to laugh as the film unravels in unexpected directions.

Despite not being shown in the cinemas in many countries, "One cut of the dead" was an enormous box office success, and has scored a higher Success Rate than any other film I've reviewed. It was made with a budget of $25,000 and earned more than $30 million at the box office.

Success Rate:  + 1246.0

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