Tomorrow Night

This little film is such a gem. The little episodes are such great everyday surreal. Not 'leave the universe' surreal... just an interesting alt perspective of how really strange but true is the world. A quick compare: if you enjoyed a film like Down by Law or the original Little Shop of Horrors, you should just stop what you are doing right now and watch this movie. I love that it sat for so long because the cast is (in 2014)very surprising--lots of big names from comedy doing great characters. A small but happy bonus is the set of the photo shop. There are so many cameras. The shelves of the photo shop look like a museum of hipster photography--those backdrops are like porn for camera nuts! Thanks, Louie! A great little film.

Starring the exquisite veteran Martha Greenhouse as a horny old senior, Louis C.K.'s absurdist b & w psychological howler, Tomorrow Night, rocked the L.A. Laemmle Theater audience in it's June, 2000 screenings. With an array of New York characters heads and goiters above Woody Allen's pale squatters--an angry chain-smoking Queen hungry for a few fingers, Lola Vagina - love temptress, and a homy postman funnier and wiser than any Greek Chorus, Louis C.K. o'er-leaps his tv and comedy club roots and lures his audience into a deeper, darker, and more difficult tradition of absurdist cinema laughs--hard to pull off, but he did it, combining fetish, aging, repression, queerness, friendship, and yearning into a timeless, fresh, and ultimately hysterical--in all the best ways-

Charles is the owner of a camera and photograph developing store (important to note that the film was made in the late 90's); he lives a lonely life where he shuns most interactions and spends his evening sitting in a bowl of ice cream while music blares on his record player. Florence is an old woman who spends her days chatting with friend Tina but is treated badly by her domineering, gambler husband Lester. These two lives move forward but will eventually intertwine.

Although I don't think he is perfect, I do find that Louis CK is a very interesting comedian and when he offered this old film for $5 recently, I decided to give it a go. The film is presented in black/white with a style and content that occasionally suggests a much older film than the late 90's but the humor is certainly nothing but modern. If the plot sounds deliberately odd then it is right because the whole film has this very odd air to it of stilted awkwardness and oddity; if you are into that then you'll love this film a great deal but for me, even as one who likes CK, I mostly thought it didn't work. Too often the silences and stillness didn't work and the lack of me being amused left the material exposed. That said there are lots of moments that work but they are mostly where energy is brought into the film, or odd images are nicely presented.

So for example the energy brought by Smoove and Shapiro is really fun, while some cool "out of the blue" stuff is oddly enjoyable – such as the boy Clean. Sadly though too much of it left me cold and just felt too out there for me to be able to connect with. If you're in the mood and get on the same wavelength then I guess you'll have more bits that work than I did – but this film really is a very tight wavelength.

This is a very strange movie. Louis CK's absurd characters reveal that sense of humor he employs as a Letterman and O'Brien writer. Anyone who watches this movie will never look at ice cream the same. Rick Shapiro as Tina is the funniest character in the film. Really low budget but fun. I had to admit laughing at the inanity- the son who has been out of touch for 20 years, the dog's revenge and the adopted son.

Something totally different from Louis CK!

The main character draws you in and the supporting cast is hilarious.

Some standout performances by Chuck Sklar, Rick Shapiro, Steve Carell and J.B. Smoove.

Chuck Sklar plays the straight man so well you just have to find out what he's hiding.

Rick Shapiro as Tina has some of the funniest lines and facial expressions in the movie.

Steve Carell's scenes will have you laughing as hard as he is.

And I want J.B. Smoove to be my mailman!

The movie reminds me of a Woody Allen flick if Woody Allen shot and edited the film on mushrooms and nitrous.

So forget trying to make any logical sense of the movie and enjoy the hilarious trip.