TRIBECA 2010: ZONAD Review

Nailing a feature length comedy can be tough. Writing a review for one can be just as tricky. With its international premiere happening today at Tribeca, Kieran and John Carney's send up of 50s Sci-fi B-movies and American sitcom culture via way of an Irish Hamlet has garnered a lot of buzz around these parts. So, how does the actual film fare? Well... a little setup first.



When a comet passes over Earth the same night the Cassidy family find an unconscious latex clad man on their living room floor, the townsfolk of Ballymoran think they have an alien visitor in their midst. Upon revival this mystery man reveals himself to be intergalactic traveler, Zonad (Simon Delaney), who fell through a rip in the space time continuum... or something.
Soon enough Zonad is taking full advantage of the gullible, totally smitten locals and - to the dismay of American millionaire orphan Guy Hendrickson (Rory Keenan) - is teen sexpot, Jenny Cassidy's (Janice Byrne) new infatuation. But something is afoot... And when fellow space traveler, Bonad (David Pearse) appears, Zonad's idyllic dream town of free beer and loose women is in jeopardy.

If this all sounds kind of nutty, it is absolutely, without a doubt, nuts. Do the Brothers Carney pull it off? Well folks, I think what we have here is a cult classic in the making, and that's at the very least. I sure hope this film finds a wide audience, because it deserves it.

There is a precious naivety and innocence to ZONAD that is playfully jostled by outbursts of lurid adult content. One would think the scales would tip in one direction, either creating a rather cute tongue-in-cheek family affair or a crude adult farce, yet miraculously, a fine balance is met... head on with laser accurate loopiness. Take for instance the scene where Guy and Cassidy tot, Jimmy discover the horrors of lover's lane, with Brian Byrne's fantastic orchestral score swelling over the rocking of parked cars, to when Zonad exits school to a bevy of "fuck-me-now" schoolgirls, as a poppy 50s tune plays - not to mention the questionable eyebrow raising relationship between Guy and his butler, Benson (David Murray) - the Carneys and their cast rarely miss a note. A certain sly nostalgia permeates the entire 80 minute running time of the film, never contradicting or betraying its genuine sweetness, despite being a very, very - kind of Mel Brooks style - silly. The gee-golly sitcom simpleness of the locals ends up being more infectious, rather than ever being played up as a cruel joke.
 
Susie Cullen and Tizanie Corviseri's quaint yet kooky production and costume design pops with retro glee. Peter Robertson's cinematography glows with a peachy technicolor warmth. Bryne's aforementioned awesome score spurs on Nathan Nugent and Paul Mullen's editing with a whiz-bang jollity.

Balancing out the Carney's absurd and assured vision is the excellent cast, namely Janice Byrne, as the not-so-innocent (yet not so easily objectified), Jenny, and Keenan's hapless, puppy dog eyed, Guy. Then, of course is Simon Delaney in the title role. Channeling a Shatner-lite cantor, Delaney's Zonad, feels somewhat reminiscent of a role John Belushi would have played in his hay day; drinking and dancing, chasing tail. It is revealed quite early on in the film that Zonad is not a space alien; a joke that we, the audience, are only privy to... despite the obvious, because, for gods sake, here is an out and out booze hound wearing a red latex PVC suit and a competition bicycle helmet. But the clueless town is smitten, and so are we. Delaney's lovable,  self obsessed chancer-on-the-run plays with the best of comedy traditions, but it is a role that he owns with a charm all his own. If this flick won't make him an international star...
         
So yup, color me impressed with this one, very impressed. In terms of sheer laughs, ZONAD is going to be a hard one to beat this year, and is a definite shoe-in for Tribeca's audience award.