Review of Leon the Pig Farmer

Introduction

Leon Geller is an estate agent, which is something of a problem given his tendency towards honesty. Things come to a head and he resigns in disgust. Of course he reveals this news at the worst possible moment, a family gathering. Fortunately, the family will rally round, whether he wants them to or not, and he finds himself working for his mother in the catering business. It`s during a delivery to an infertility clinic that he finds out serendipitously, that he is the result of artificial insemination. It`s hard enough to reconcile this with his family, but when he realises that he may have inherited the dysfunction that laid his father low, he pays another visit, this time to assure him of his own virility. This leads to another bombshell, although he is fully capable it turns out that his father isn`t his father. A mix up with test tubes means that his biological father is Brian Chadwick of Yorkshire. A visit north finds that his father is the proud owner of a pig farm, something that doesn`t really gel with Leon`s Jewish upbringing. Nevertheless he tries to stick it out, at least until he has his own test tube mix up.

Video

Leon The Pig Farmer is presented in 4:3 aspect. A quick visit to IMDb does nothing to indicate that this isn`t the original aspect ratio and indeed there isn`t any sign of cropping or panning. The picture quality itself is quite good, the image is sharp and colourful and the picture is clear. There is one moment of flicker, which is alluded to in the commentary, and there is a moment of print damage, but the only problem is the dark scenes look awfully grainy and the black fades to grey at the edges. The cinematography is quite nice and quirky.

Audio

The sound is 2.0 stereo and is quite adequate. The dialogue is always clear and the music is minimal, but the theme does get repetitive, especially as it is used in the menus. On the whole the sound is unexceptional.

Features

The extras include the trailer, shown in letterbox format. A stills gallery presented as a two-minute slideshow with the ubiquitous theme. There is a short film by co-director Gary Sinyor, The Unkindest Cut, which he made before Leon. It is very similar to Leon, covering the same issues and with a similar protagonist, but has the benefit of being only 15 minutes long. It`s also presented in letterbox format. Finally there is the directors` commentary, here provided by Gary Sinyor, Vadim Jean and associate producer Simon Scotland. The placement of the audio in the front speakers is at first disconcerting, but the actual commentary is quite interesting and easy to listen to. There is a good banter between the three and although they occasionally talk over each other, I`m afraid to say that I found the commentary funnier than the film itself. Animated menus are thrown in for free.

Conclusion

It`s a sad state of affairs when the commentary is funnier than the film itself, but try as I might, I just couldn`t laugh at Leon the Pig Farmer. It`s no fault of the cast. Mark Frankel is sublime as the earnest Leon, he gives a measured and perfectly pitched performance. Brian Glover is pure class as the farmer Chadwick, he of the wayward sperm and Maryam D`Abo is wonderfully quirky as one of Leon`s girlfriends. However, the script just doesn`t measure up to the talent. The film takes an age to get going, with a lot of unnecessary exposition. The whole Madeleine subplot, despite Maryam D`abo`s wonderful character is an overlong appetiser before the meat of the movie arrives on your plate. It seems that the moviemakers played with ideas rather than committing to them totally. There is an ominous rumble every time non-Kosher food appears on screen, but the joke feels underused, the same for the habit of complete strangers being the voice of Leon`s conscience in strange locations. Halfway through the movie when Brian Glover makes his entrance with his strange clan of pig farmers is the only time that I laughed. In fact I laughed twice in the whole film, both at Brian Glover`s lines.

Leon the Pig Farmer is an acquired taste. The story is implausible in the extreme. It`s hard to see people acting and reacting the way the characters do here. The culture specific jokes may be funny, but since I come from a culture that similarly emphasises marriage, career and guilt, the fact that I didn`t laugh must be a telling sign. The worst thing for a comedy to be is humorous, and that is the best way I can describe Leon. I know intellectually the situations have humour to them. I understand and get the jokes and can see how they fit in, but there isn`t anything funny. The film works on the higher brain and those moments that would cause you to instinctively belly laugh are woefully absent. Incidentally, separated at birth; Bernard Bresslaw as Rabbi Hertzman and Sir Ian McKellan as Gandalf.