About a month or so ago, I sat down at my regular arthouse cinema to watch who-knows-what and before the film I was hit with a wild teaser trailer that had a whole lot of people swearing, crazy sex scenes, and a talking fox and magpie. It was absolutely incredible because it did not give you any indication of what the film was about, but gave a sense of the potential fun within it. It made me laugh so hard, but I also thought this could turn out to be the dumbest film alive. When I got home after my session, I found the trailer on the internet and sent it to my brother, who had the same reaction as myself. Either way, the teaser trailer was unforgettable and certainly did it's job at grabbing my attention, because when I saw that “The Fox” was playing at MIFF there was no way in hell I was going to miss it.
I said this last year in my review for “One More Shot”, another excellent recent Australian comedy (that sadly seems to have not found the audience it deserves), it is rare for me to see many comedies at MIFF, mainly because it is not my genre of choice, and also, these days good ones are few and far between. The type of comedies I like are really dark, black comedies, or those at the other end of the spectrum, which are absolutely silly to the point of the absurd, which is where I would rate “The Fox”. Director Dario Russo explained during his introduction to the film that it is essentially a cautionary tale about what can happen if you listen to talking foxes, which I think gives you an indication of how silly the film itself is. There is no moral to be found at the end of the tale, it is just a good old fashioned Aussie comedy; its rude, crude, nude......and more than a little politically incorrect at times too. “The Fox” is a cracking film filled to the brim with laughs and absurdity. It also comes with a kind-of plot secret that isn't revealed until late in the film, so I have to tread carefully as I review this so I do not ruin it, because the moment of reveal is side splittingly funny!
When further discussing his film in earnest during the post screening Q&A, Russo explained that the germ of the idea came to him because he is a big fan of Japanese and Korean folklore, and in those traditions they have a number of stories involving talking foxes delivering lore, warnings and cautionary tales within them. Growing up in a part of Adelaide inundated with a huge fox population, he started wondering why our foxes don't talk, and if an Aussie fox did talk, would it have anything worthwhile to say?, and that is how “The Fox” all began. One element of “The Fox” that I loved that Russo was determined to include was to have the humans communicate with the animals like it was normal, not questioning that they are talking to a magpie or a “magic” fox. For me, some of the funniest scenes in “The Fox” are when the magpie is trying to blackmail the human characters for some fresh chicken, because he sees and hears everything. There is also a moment in a car when Nick and Diana reflect on what they have just done, realising they followed the advice of a fox, that I found hilarious!
Dario Russo has been gifted the most sublime cast possible for “The Fox”; seriously it is almost like the most perfect ensemble ever, and literally everyone is outstanding in their individual roles, but as a group, they come across totally like regular folks from an old country town, where the most exciting part of the day is heading down to the local pub for a beer and a schnitzel dinner. Have a look at this cast: Jai Courtney and Emily Browning star as Nick and Kori, and they are ably assisted in smaller roles by Damon Herriman, Claudia Doumit, Frankie J. Holden, Miranda Otto, Kim Gyngell and, if you can believe it, Zlato Buric, who plays Kori's father. The absolute cherry on top though has to be the voice work of Olivia Colman, who plays the fox, and Sam Neill, who steals the movie as the foul mouthed magpie; he is just outstanding and so, so funny! Russo told a bittersweet story about Neill and the origin of his magpie voice, where apparently he said he couldn't do a magpie, but he could do a crow, and then based it on a real life crow he knew that he nicknamed “The Disappointed Orgasm”, because his craw sounded just like that. In all seriousness, the magpie is the funniest part of “The Fox”, and I really wished there was more of him in it, but seeing a sarcastic bird, dropping f-bombs constantly, while threatening the humans of the town that he will give up their secrets if they don't give him some “fresh” chicken......well, it's bloody hilarious!! Also to get Olivia Colman to voice the fox must have been a such a coup; like everyone in the film, she is perfect. Colman, as the fox, even narrates the film explaining how every animal has their own peculiar interests; cats are torturers, dogs are degenerates, frogs are sex pests (ha!), magpies stick their noses into other people's business, but it is humans that have the strangest interest of all, which is to make themselves unhappy and then pretend that they have no say in their unhappiness by saying inane things like “what can you do?”, “shit happens”, or the dreaded “it is what it is” (which you hear the characters amusingly say regularly through the film).
When it comes to the animals, thankfully Russo went down the route of using animatronics versus CGI, although there is minor computer enhancement when the animals have to walk. It was a great decision because even though they are obviously puppets, it is so much fun seeing the other actors interacting with them; it is hard to explain but it just adds that little bit extra to them by being organic, rather than put into the film later at another stage. It just gives them character. Another aspect of “The Fox” that Russo gets totally right is its running time, with the film only just over ninety minutes, which is the perfect length for a comedy. It keeps the laughs fresh without stretching an idea longer than it needs to be to the point that it loses its edge, which is a problem with so many comedies these days. And this one, is as Aussie as it gets, which is shown via the constant use of the national vernacular.......or in other words, they say the word “fuck” a whole lot of the time.......but in such a way that it is very, very funny, and so Australian!
Other than that, there really isn't too much I can say about “The Fox” with out ruining it's surprises, so I will just say that writer / director Dario Russo has done a stellar job at putting together his film (Russo also edited the film, and did it's score), and has been blessed with a stellar cast, who are all excellent including the late, great Sam Neill who steals the film as the foul mouthed magpie. Despite comedy, it also heads down a few other genres but to reveal which would ruin the surprise. Honestly folks, “The Fox” is an outstanding Aussie comedy that I hope you rush out to see, if you get a chance, because it deserves a large audience. If it does not find that audience, well, “it is what it is”.
3.5 Stars.
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