Cinema
The Lunatic
Lol Creme · 1991
Synopsis
Aloysius, whom the village considers mad, lives in the woods at the foot of a lignum vitae tree that speaks to him, and also converses with the other trees and the plants. Inga, a sturdy German tourist eager for adventure, makes him her lover and leads him as she pleases; soon Service, the village butcher armed with his machete, joins their household, and the trio sets off on a series of escapades, from a cricket match to a burglary plan about which only the madman has scruples.
Context
The film adapts a novel published four years earlier, for which the author himself wrote the screenplay. Shot on the north coast of Jamaica with actors from the island, Paul Campbell as the madman, Carl Bradshaw as the butcher and Reggie Carter as Busha, opposite the British actress Julie T. Wallace, it has music by Wally Badarou and tracks by Toots and the Maytals and Aswad. It is its director's first feature film; it was released in the United States in 1992.
Who it is for
In English and Jamaican Creole, ninety-three minutes; a bawdy farce which keeps the talking trees from the novel.
Prizes and reception
Video Librarian saw it as a bold and successful comedy, albeit bawdy; Time Out, as a social and political satire driven by reggae.
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