BUNNY AND THE BULL

UK, 2009, 101 minutes, Colour.
Edward Hogg, Simon Farnaby, Veronica Echegui, Richard Ayoade, Julian Barrett, Noel Fielding, Sylvia Sims.
Directed by Paul King.

Gore Blimey!

Actually, Bunny does not confront the bull until the end of the film and...!

The writer-director, Paul King, describes his film as a road movie within the central character's head.

This is a low-budget film that will appeal to those who want something visually different from their entertainment. It combines realism (although filmed on sets and in a studio) as well as some stylised sets and miniatures and a liberal use of animation which has stylistic flair. So, that is what it looks like.

And its content? The plot is an odd couple, buddy movie, well-acted, but they are a couple who raise ambiguous responses because of their eccentricities and the completely laddish personality of betaholic womaniser, Bunny. He is played by Simon Farnaby who does command attention while he is on screen. However, the central character is Stephen, a withdrawn obsessive-compulsive agoraphobic, played by Edward Hodge (who was so remarkable as Jesco White the homicidal folk dancer from West Virginia in White Lightnin').

Stephen's flat is filled with boxes and boxes of trivia from tickets to dental floss. When his store of vegetable lasagna is gnawed at by rats, he has to order out – which provokes his memories of the past year and his trip with Bunny (after winning cash with an unlikely bet): visits to exceedingly offbeat and odd museums, stealing a huge stuffed bear from a chalet (run by screen veteran, Sylvia Sims), meeting a mad man who milks dogs, winning a car in a bet and giving a lift to a Spanish dynamo who works in a Polish crab fast food cafe and meeting her would-be matador brother. Which leads to the bull...

Often crass, sometimes crude, sometimes silly, probably to be enjoyed by Bunny-alikes or would-be Bunnies watching it with their mates – but not their girlfriends (if they have any).

1.A small-budget film? Its niche audience – offbeat comedy, experimental? The director’s background in offbeat television?

2.The title, the focus on Bunny as a character, as seen by Stephen? The bull at the end of the film?

3.The small budget, everything filmed in a studio? Small models, rear projection? The contribution of animation? The overall effect? Experimental, style and flair? The musical score?

4.The focus on Stephen, the voice-over commentary on his daily routine, obsessive-compulsive, getting ready for the day, watching the television, agoraphobic? The discovery that rats had been at his vegetable lasagne? His ordering out, the delivery, the insipid meal? Triggering his memories?

5.The year earlier? Stephen and Bunny as friends? The complete contrast of characters? The win at the horses? The animation effect of the horse race? Their win after the collapse of the favourite? The cash? The decision to go on a holiday? Stephen controlling it? Buying the book? Bunny’s liberal-minded perceptions on what the holiday would be like?

6.The comedy of the holiday, the variety of the museums? The tours, the commentary? German cutlery? The deadpan guide at the shoe museum? Bunny wanting something to eat?

7.The miniature trains? The travel through Belgium, decisions, Holland, Germany, into Poland? The King Crab takeaway? The ugly food? The waitress and her telling off the boss? Their order?

8.Bunny and his compulsive gambling? His betting about eating the crabs? Stephen helping him? Winning the car? Stephen and his encounter with the Spanish girl? Her leaving? The car, picking her up? Travelling?

9.Stephen and his careful driving? The hotel, the bossy woman in charge? The bear? The night, Bunny and the girl? Stephen doing the laundry? Bunny stealing the bear? Driving, recklessness, the crash?

10.The encounter with the odd man with the dogs, the dogs’ milk? Bunny and the bet about swimming under the ice? Stephen rescuing him? Meeting up again with the girl?

11.Going to Spain, the discussion about bullfights? Meeting the girl’s brother, a matador, would-be? The suit? Bunny taking it, gambling, losing it and all his clothes? Relying on Stephen for some support? Going into the field, the challenge of the bull? The makeup of the mechanical bull, the mimed fight? The rear projection of an actual bull? Bunny being gored?

12.Stephen in his room, continually returning from the journey, the journey happening in his mind? Bunny’s appearance, wearing the same dressing gown and pyjamas? Their discussions? Bunny as Stephen’s alter-ego? Stephen and his moving in and out of the room, especially through the trapdoor?

13.Bunny’s ultimate advice, urging Stephen to go out? His unlocking the door, standing in the street? Resuming life?

14.The British tradition of road movies, buddy movies – in the offbeat style of Withnail and I?