For Queerguru, British satirist Chris Morris’s feature film debut FOUR LIONS was one of the very best movies at Sundance in 2010. This black comedy about an inept group of British Pakistani terrorists pushed any hint of good taste out of the window and stunned the Park City crowd onto silence.
It was not only a moderate hit for Morris, but the reviews were generally positive, and it earned Morris a BAFTA, for “Outstanding Debut”. Since then beyond directing a few episodes of the TV series VEEP, Morris has been keeping a low profile.
That will charge now with his sophomore feature that he finished two years ago, but for some unexplained reason, is just being released now, The Day Shall Come is another black comedy this time about a group of African/Americans in one of Miami’s poorest neighborhoods. Liberty City who literally stumble into terrorism when they are about to be evicted from their urban ‘farm’ when they cannot pay the rent.
The so-called anarchists are led by Moses (Marchant Davis) harmless and just slightly deranged, who is both the preacher and leader of an army that numbers 4 in total. By avoiding his medication he is paranoid enough to believe that the CIA has preserved a small group of dinosaurs and he also insists that both God and Satan speak to him through a duck.
Anti-weapons and violence they put their faith in toy weapons to right the injustices of the world, but mainly to provide food for Moses wife and young ‘ daughter.
Meanwhile the power crazy local FBI who are determined to get some fame by scoring a big victory over terrorism decide as they cannot see any possible scenarios on the horizon, that they will fake one of their own, Overly ambitious FBI Agent Kendra (Anna Kendrick) misjudges Moses haphazard rhetoric and creates a fake threat manoeuvring him into a situation where he will be appear to be a real danger to the nation.
This turns into an hysterical farce where the bungling FBI can not do anything right, when the very naive Moses inadvertently refuses to play their game.
As it said at the very beginning of the film this is all based on over 100 true stories, and as ridiculous as they sound, it is very believable that some of this is based on the antics of our power hungry security forces who sometimes want to get results without having to deal with the reality of facts and the truth.
Morris’s film is deliriously funny and will really delight all fans of farcical black comedy even though it does not attain the heady heights of Four Lions .
Labels: 2019, black comedy, Chris Morris, farce
