Comedian Anthony Locascio presents his new show 'Heart Of Darkness', exploring guilt, shame, love and redemption.
The show comes fresh from the success of 'Don't Call Me A Wog', and sees Anthony bringing together a collection of stories of all the worst things he's ever done in his life. He'll present audiences with reasoning as to why – despite morally questionable behaviours – he is deserving og love, life and laughter.
Anthony is known for blending sharp joke writing with musings on his ethnic background, as well as for having a penchant for unique storytelling.
Here, on theme with the show's title, 'Heart Of Darkness', Anthony gets ready for a movie night by listing five of his favourite 'dark' films.
“In the lead up to my 2023 tour and my new show 'Heart Of Darkness', I felt it appropriate to revisit my favourite genre of film; dark. This could range from dark comedies to films that just sucker punch you with their bleakness. If you haven’t seen these, and you have particularly weak faculties for the harshness of life, you probably shouldn’t see (some of) these.”
Five
'Se7en'. We start with a quintessentially '90s thriller, down to the stylising of the title itself. What more could you ask for from a film from that decade; Brad Pitt as the grizzled, brash young hero, Morgan Freeman as his wise side kick (although Denzel Washington supposedly turned this role down, which would have definitely put it higher on the list) and of course, Kevin Spacey at his Kevin Spaceyest (man it sucks that he ended up being a monster). The way this movie drags out the horrific misdeeds of the villain without introducing him until the end is a masterpiece in tension building which is certainly NOT paid off with a happy ending. Unless you’re a fan of what was in the box (you freak).Four
'Sorry To Bother You'. This movie is so weird and hilarious; a totally unique take on US race relations of today. The protagonist (LaKeith Stanfield, who is great in everything) finds himself excelling at his job only after he learns to adopt ‘white voice’ (voiced by comedy legend David Cross) and proceeds to move up in the world fast. The trajectory of the film seems fairly conventional until everyone starts turning into half human, half horse hybrids; transformed as such by their corporate overlords to maximise work rate and obedience. Somehow a movie that features chimeras is a perfect encapsulation of the dark times we live in. The soundtrack is also absolutely phenomenal.Three
'Requiem For A Dream'. The darkest of the dark. I recently watched Darren Aronofsky’s 'The Whale', a film seemingly designed to simulate ripping your heart out of your chest and putting it through a woodchipper (though it somehow has a hopeful ending?) and this earlier work by the same dude is much the same, an attempt to induce depression, but with no positive note to end the film. The film explores different forms of drug addiction through the stellar acting of Jared Leto, Jennifer Connolly, Marlon Wayans (this guy had major potential, but will be remembered as one of the guys from 'White Chicks') and especially Ellen Burstyn as the desperate retired widow. There are NO uplifting qualities to this film, but if you, like me, are a bit f...ed up and like to watch films to channel your sadness, this is for you.Two
'In Bruges'. Possibly the greatest dark comedy film ever made; I have sadly yet to see its recently released spiritual follow up 'The Banshees Of Inisherin', which reunites Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson for some delightfully bleak Irish outlook on life. In their first film together, they play a pair of hitmen on the run in the most boring city in Belgium, haunted by something that went horribly wrong on their last job. The twist is DARK, hilarious, and punctuated by Ralph Fiennes in rare form as a mob boss. If you’re looking for a film which will make you laugh when you definitely shouldn’t, it’s got to be 'In (fookin’) Bruges'.One
'The Dark Knight'. This may be a cop out, but the geek in me cannot put anything else as number one. Many say the Marvel/superhero film boom was launched on the charm of Robert Downey Jr’s 'Iron Man', but I, an intellectual, know it was Christopher Nolan’s trilogy which truly paved that wacky road. Taking the darkest, grittiest superhero and putting him in an even darker, grittier world was a major risk, which paid off tenfold. Bale is the consummate Batman, and his prowess is matched only by Heath Ledger’s legendary turn as The Joker, possibly the darkest character ever brought to screen. The die is cast early in the film, when a pre-fall from grace Harvey Dent utters “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” – this acts as both foreshadowing for himself and Batman, but also a solemn condemnation of the nature of heroism, righteousness and indeed, darkness itself.Anthony Locascio 2023 Tour Dates
Until 18 March – The Garage International @ Crack (Adelaide Fringe)12-22 April – Belgian Beer Cafe (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)
5-7 May – Factory Theatre (Sydney Comedy Festival)
12-13 May – The Rechabite (Perth Comedy Festival)
