Dead in a Week

BLACK COMEDY IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Dead in a Week

This jet-black comedy from first-time writer/director Tom Edmunds really grabbed me when Tom Wilkinson’s character, a member of the fictional (I hope!) British Guild of Assassins, glances at a conference program. Seminars include “Making It Look Like Suicide” and “Know Your Poisons.” And at the top of the page is a crest and the motto “Death is a Living.” At least I think that’s what it translates to. Many a film uses fake Latin to fill up a page we barely notice; this one actually includes the real thing!

Wilkinson’s character, Leslie O’neil, has been hired by one William Morrison (Aneurin Barnard, looking appropriately sallow). William wants to kill himself but can’t quite make it happen. When he leaps from a bridge he lands on a boat; a toaster in the tub merely shorts out his flat; and when he throws himself into traffic he gets hit by — wait for it — an ambulance.

Leslie assures him he can do the job: “I’ve killed more people than you’ve had hot baths.” With the paperwork complete, he smiles: “Congratulations; you’ve just signed your own death warrant.”

Trouble is — and this plot twist is no surprise, really — as soon as the ink on the contract is dry, William decides he has a reason to live after all, and wants to back out of the deal. Leslie, in danger of losing his job if he fails to make quota, isn’t having that. And so a chain of events is set into motion involving a publishing assistant (Freya Mavor) and the head of the guild (Christopher Eccleston, clearly told to Guy Ritchie it up).

Edmunds balances the tone nicely, keeping things from getting too dark by employing a jolly/ironic soundtrack, wonderfully quirky characters — Leslie’s wife (Marion Bailey) is into competitive needlepoint — and a handful of well-timed Monty Python references; I counted three, if you allow that a deceased budgie is to a dead parrot what an African swallow is to the European variety.

It’s also a particularly meaty role for Wilkinson, who’s played villains before but never one quite so grounded as this one. He could, if he wanted, perhaps even parlay this into a latecareer Liam-neeson-ian action sideline. His character certainly knows his worth, telling William during their negotiations: “I wouldn’t reverse over you in a Ford Fiesta for that kind of money.”

Provided you don’t take it too seriously — it’s only death and life after all — Dead in a Week (Or Your Money Back) offers a deliriously dark night at the movies. Dying is easy, they say; comedy is hard. This one manages both.∏∏∏1/2

Dead in a Week (Or Your Money Back) opens Nov. 30 in Toronto, Ottawa and on demand.

RATHER GOOD FILMS Aneurin Barnard and Freya Mavor are on the run in Dead in a Week.