What's the connection between comedy and tragedy? Is this concept different in Eastern versus Western culture? What artful essentials in a film are necessary for the audience to accept laughing at something objectively sad, and even wrong? Are you familiar with The King Of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1982) and its Chinese counterpart 喜剧之王 (Stephen Chow, 1999)? In this club, we'll watch scenes from both of these critically acclaimed groundbreakers and discuss this fascinating and very human relationship of concepts!
They say that comedy = tragedy over time. Would you agree? Is it a certain type of person who can see the humour in the tragic? Or is it more about the filmmaker? Or the culture? In the old schools of film, comedy and tragedy are the only two types of stories, all others are derivatives of those two. But what about the human condition? Is it unnatural to marry comedy and tragedy or is it the evolution of art imitating life?
Let's sit back with good friends in comfy chairs as we sip on stiff cocktails, eat tasty popcorn, and watch scenes from two thought-provoking and funny yet dark films from both the East and the West. And, let's have a fascinating discussion about our mutual journey guided by Leon, a psychologist, cinephile and lover of good conversations!