Bill Forsyth makes interesting movies. I doubt I would be able to tell a picture is one of his without knowing that in advance, but the ones I have seen so far have a humanity to them I greatly appreciate. There’s also a quirkiness that goes beyond expected human behavior but never crosses into anything cartoonish. The closest analogy I can think of is the work of Aki Kaurismaki, though that director’s films definitely cross farther into the realm of the absurd.
Consider 1984’s Comfort and Joy where a Glasgow radio DJ (Bill Paterson) becomes the mediator in a turf war between rival ice cream vendors. He gets caught up in this intrigue only because he was instantly smitten with a woman he sees in one of the trucks while it’s in transit. He follows the vehicle until it stops, which scans as a tad creepy and stalker-y.
Almost as soon as he has a cone from the vendor, a car roars up and three men in balaclavas get out of it and start smashing up the ice cream truck. One of the thugs recognizes the DJ and asks him for his autograph, as his mother is a huge fan. Thus poor Paterson is roped into a bizarre gang rivalry.
But then the guy already unmoored and looking for a purpose after his long-time girlfriend, Maddy (Eleanor David), leaves him. Personally, I think he was better off without a kleptomaniac who is best described by the word formed by the first three letters of her name. I’m hoping the sex had been great, at least.
The scene where she decides to leave is shockingly abrupt. The couple is relaxing in their apartment, when she gets up and starts gathering together various items. When he asks what she’s doing, she casually replies, “I’m leaving and I’m just getting some things together. I meant to say this ages ago”.
Paterson is a nice enough guy that he even helps to move the furniture out. In the end, everything is gone. As he tells a visiting friend, “She took everything but the mortgage. That was mine.”
Perhaps he is flexible to a fault, which is how he gets involved in this bizarre feud centered around ice cream. He complies when told by thugs he needs to follow their ice cream truck to another location. I wouldn’t have done that.
The feud becomes almost of parody of the various Mafia films we have all seen. A meeting with one of the factions is in one of the few booths in a corner shop. Instead of eating meticulously prepared foods of their former homeland, these men in suits and overcoats are dining on packaged snack cakes as if these are equivocal.
Not sure why they don’t just eat their product, instead, as they each gang touts their frozen goods as being superior to all others. Each makes their own ice cream and we see a bit of the production process. Both gangs also keep giving Paterson containers of their goods, to the extent I lost count of how many he receives. Sorry, but I need to correct myself, as he insists on paying for that first container. At least the kingpin of that operation gives him change.
The manufacturing scenes mirror an amusing bit that runs under the opening credits where it is Christmastime, and children are watching a department store window display of animatronic elves making treats. The various expressions on the kids’ faces are amusing, especially one girl whose bemused look conveys she is less than impressed.
I’m not sure my words here will convince anybody to see Comfort and Joy, which is a shame, as it is such an enjoyable film. Without any real violence in it, it sold me on the idea there could be a turf war for any business, even ice cream. At the same time, the movie realizes the absurdity of this and has fun with the concept, while never crossing the line into farce. Recommended.
Dir: Bill Forsyth
Starring Bill Paterson, Eleanor David, Clare Grogan
Watched on StudioCanal UK blu-ray (region B)