Comedy: Laughter in dark places

Film festivals have a reputation for dark, depressing fare, with each film piling more and more existential dread on the audience until they are subsumed in ennui or, at the very least, driven to the complimentary bar. This year, AFI FEST offers a wide range of exciting new comedies that manage to find the laughs in such seemingly depressing topics as death, sexual insecurity and family strife. Whenever you're feeling "Film Festival Fatigue," just catch one of the following films; you'll be completely refreshed and positively chomping at the bit to check out that six-hour flick about nuns with blood disease (it's great, by the way).

The laughs come from all around the world, but Scandinavia is well represented by two truly hilarious films in the International Feature Competition: Norway's THE ART OF NEGATIVE THINKING and Denmark's WITH YOUR PERMISSION. Both deal with the darker side of human life while doubling as surprisingly sweet love stories. And both find huge amounts of humor in topics that are seriously taboo in the U.S. -- disabilities and spousal abuse. But rather than go for the sort of cheap, exploitative laughs that we see so often in mainstream characters that contextualize their difficult subject matter while making us scream with laughter. Please check your notions of political correctness at the door -- we'll understand if you don't want to pick them up later.

Other countries contribute to the hilarity as well. From Japan comes the delightfullytwisted family fun of FUNUKE, SHOW SOME LOVE YOU LOSERS! This triumphantly insane debut of director Daihachi Yoshida is reminiscent of Takashi Miike at his weirdest, while also forging exciting new territory for Japanese cinema. Presenting what has to be some of the most anarchic sibling rivalry since Cain and Abel threw down, the film crosses the line at a dead run in its first scene and never looks back.

Just as wild is MANUELA Y MANUEL, Puerto Rican Director Raul Marchand's delightful, gender-bending farce. Finding the right mix between moments of high-heeled slapstick and true emotion, this film is sure to please. Mexico also joins in on the fun with Sergio Umansky's joyful first film IT'S BETTER IF GABRIELA DOESN'T DIE, a high-concept triumph that parodies telenovellas as it celebrates them. Focusing on the obsessive fandom of a policeman -- and its dire consequences for a writer on the show who the cop loves -- this is a delightful, rewarding comedy delivered at a perfectly madcap pitch.

Finally, it is time to turn our eyes to America, which is represented at AFI FEST by an impressive slate of comedies. Our Centerpiece Gala JUNO, from Director Jason Reitman, tells a darkly comic tale of a teenage girl dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. A first-rate cast, which includes Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman and Riann Wilson, turns what could be a tragedy into a goldmine of unexpected laughs. The highly anticipated MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, from writer/director Noah Baumbach, is a similarly black look at a dysfunctional family that falls apart just as it should be coming together. Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh star as two sisters entrenched in psychic war, with Jack Black and Ciaran Hinds as the men in their lives.

These star-studded affairs are complimented by three smaller films that are no less hilarious: writer/director/star Anna Biller's VIVA, director Sol Tryon's THE LIVING WAKE and director Greg Araki's newest offering SMILEY FACE. VIVA and SMILEY FACE both break new ground in familiar territory, while THE LIVING WAKE is wholly original.

VIVA makes an entire genre retroactively hilarious, recreating the lusty look and groovy plot of a 1970s sexploitation film, while throwing a very knowing wink to modern audiences. In a significant departure from the style of his previous iconoclastic work, Araki puts a welcome new spin on the stoner movie in SMILEY FACE, placing a woman Ð the near-perfect Anna Faris Ð in the lead role. THE LIVING WAKE is a bombastic, surreal trip through the world of a 'true artist' who has yet to produce anything even close to art. Featuring a triumphant performance from co-writer/star Mike O'Connell, this film is sure to become a cult classic on par with the best of Monty Python and Withnail & I.

Of course, real life is just as funny -- and messed up -- as all that made-up stuff, especially when it's the life of professional comedians. Chronicling the truly remarkable life and times of 'The' Don Rickles, John Landis' new documentary MR. WARMTH, THE DON RICKLES PROJECT cements its subject's place in the pantheon of comedy. From clips of Rickles tormenting trembling souls on Johnny Carson's couch to rare footage of his current, eternally vibrant -- not to mention pugnacious -- show, this film is simply hysterical.

As sacrilegious as it might sound, Michael Addis' thrilling documentary HECKLER almost matches Rickles in its ability to make an audience nervous even as it makes them laugh. Tracking Addis and star Jamie Kennedy as they confront critics of all shapes and sizes, this film is guaranteed to never get any thumbs up. Between these two documentaries, the past, present and future of comedy is represented in numerous interviews with literally hundreds of comedians.

So why are you still reading this, dude? There are a whole bunch of comedies to see, from the dark and twisted to the sweet and, well, also pretty twisted. AFI FEST is the only place to see them all, and that's no joke. (Sorry.)