Goliath (David Zellner, 2008) USA

Goliath was the movie I was most looking forward to seeing this year at the film festival. Though it was not the film that I expected, I was not displeased by the outcome at all. In fact, I was a bit more satisfied than I would have been. David Zellner stars in a movie he also wrote and directed, about a man whose life is falling apart. His wife has left him, he’s been demoted at work, and to top it all off his cat is nowhere to be found. Rather than put any real effort into the other dissolving aspects of his life, he focuses on finding his cat, Goliath.

The Good: This movie could switch between some of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on the screen (the opening scene in which David leaves a message for his ex-wife comes to mind), to the bringing me close to tears without missing a beat. Zellner shows how isolating divorce and loss in general can really be, and how these feelings can drive people to some pretty extreme actions. The signing of the divorce papers is one of the funniest and hard to handle scenes I have ever seen. The last scene of the movie was adorable and uplifting.

The Bad: Not much negative feedback for this film. There were many instances in the film where Zellner relied completely on drawn out awkward silences for laughs. When it worked, it was fantastic. When it fell short, it was very hard to handle, and sort of pulled you out of the film.

Overall: I thought Goliath was a really enjoyable film. With a few tweaks it could have been a perfect film. The Zellner brothers (not only did Nathan Zellner have a role in the film, he also produced and edited the film) will be a comedic team to watch out for in the future.