The Living Wake

That rare thing: an intelligent, beautifully acted and gloriously funny independent comedy. THE LIVING WAKE channels the spirit of such British comedies as Withnail & I and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life but fashions a wholly original vision that is sure to become a cult classic … if not simply a classic.

Self-proclaimed artist and genius K. Roth Binew is a dreamer who elevates his drab and somewhat pitiful existence into a personal mythology … and as part of that mythology, he has decided that he has reached the end of life. Binew enlists his best friend, the unknown poet and biographer Mills Joquin, to chronicle his final hours, which entails Joquin driving Binew around town on a pedicab searching for the meaning of life. As the eccentric duo go about their quest, Binew hands out invitations to his final party, a living wake.

The outrageously imaginative vision at the center of THE LIVING WAKE is its timeless and charmingly eccentric world, which stems from the sparkling imagination of Mike O’Connell. And while O’Connell turns in a tour-de-force performance, first-time director Sol Tryon exhibits the value of old virtues: characterization, detail and engagement. Beautifully scripted and lensed, insightful and transgressive, THE LIVING WAKE is an absolute original.