It's a good week for obscure foreign films out on DVD: Lars Von Trier's office satire The Boss of It All, the absurd Belgian comedy L'Iceberg, and the Tibetan documentary Dreaming Lhasa.
1. The Boss of It All
Genius Productions, Inc.
The office satire The Boss of It Al is Lars Von Trier's first comedy following a long string of doleful dramas (Dogville, Manderlay, Dogville) and his first Danish film since The Idiots. Jens Albinus plays an actor hired to impersonate the mysteriously absent CEO of a company about to be sold to Icelandic investors. The fish-out-of-water setup results in three kinds of humor: actor jokes, office jokes, and Icelandic jokes. It's a pleasure to see fresh, playful work by the brilliant filmmaker.
2. L'Iceberg
This unique Belgian comedy tells an absurd tale about an ordinary wife, mother, and manager of a fast food joint whose life if forever changed after she gets locked overnight in a freezer. Conceived and directed by circus performers Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, and Bruno Romy, L'Iceberg is strangely endearing and intermittently brilliant.
3. Dreaming Lhasa
First Run Features
Dreaming Lhasa, set among the exile Tibetan community in India, is the first dramatic feature film by documentary filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam and the first internationally recognized feature film by a Tibetan to explore the contemporary reality of Tibet. Tibetan filmmaker Karma travels from New York to Dharamsala to interview political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet and finds herself caught up in the quest of an enigmatic ex-monk.
