Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: PIGEON DROP [Miami Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]
The aspect of the farcical whodunits (or "how do they get out of it" comedies) have always been a mainstay of cinema. "Pigeon Drop" [Special Presentation] which helps kick off the virtual edition of the 2021 Miami Film Festival, understands this well. Films from South America can sometimes push the bounds in terms of political correctness or the caricature type nature of some of their characters but it is done in fun usually for satirical effect. Here, in many ways like "Knives Out" the key revolves around each character trying to outwit the other even if they don't quite know what is going. Unlike "Knives Out", this narrative seems to run that gamut in a bit of reverse thinking. The play here is that a fun partying old uncle finally comes to a Christmas celebration with his family and promises to reveal a big surprise after midnight but he doesn't quite make it that far (through a slapstick antic that actually gets a belly laugh every time). The surprise is lifted and it is not what the family thought it was.
The fun aspect of these movies is that they tease out a little bit of narrative at a time using expectations of the characters and the audience's own bias against them. The film, handily enough, never takes itself seriously so there is a lightness all the way through despite some of the darker nature of the material. Love is in the air and yet broken in other parts of the house. The physical comedy works well but it is about the irony when the final resolution comes to bear which it does in a couple specific steps. The production doesn't want to make it too complicated so the plot turns are predictable at points but still enjoyable. The lensing is also quite good keeping the pace moving even though most of the action takes place inside the one house during Christmas Eve. The title: "Pigeon Drop" is ironically enough a give away in a certain way but it revels in what it is: a fun little gem. B
By Tim Wassberg
