Days of Darkness and the Society of the Spectacle

Didn't expect this movie to be good, but I was really impressed; I'm happy to be Canadian. The ability to criticize Canadian (particularly Quebecois society) while making it entertaining was amazing. The complexities beneath stereotypes (like the negro example) are unravelled to the extent of which I have not seen in film before.

Using the real and fantasy was also very well done. Baudrillard's hyper-reality might be applicable to the medieval getaway scene, which is a fantasy made real, but only through this fantasy can the real be realized (in real life, he has no purpose, doesn't want to fight for his marriage, fantasizes about men being jealous of him and of fighting them off, but only in fantasy can this come true - he goes into jousting and feels worthwhile). Would anyone like to elaborate on Baudrillard? Really want to read what you have to say on this.

I think the recurring theme of imagining being watched while achieving spectacular success (his fantasies) and the need to be successful (his wife) are very important for today's society. This film reminds me of the excellent work of David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen and Guy Debord.

I thought the ending was brilliant... the director emphasizes life becoming art when it is still, hence cutting the apples in silence and contentment is equal to an artist drawing a still life, since they are both examples of a still life, which as this movie portrays, is also a "festive life".

The guy who's hired to be a humor coach in the office says something like "in order to survive in this world, one has to be festive", and although this depletes itself by trying to show humor doesn't exist - it only doesn't exist because the situation is contrived. Instead, this "festivity" is found in the end, in that still life and those festive apples.

Getting rambly... share your thoughts? Especially w/ relation to Baudrillard, DFW, Society of the Spectacle etc.

Movies I found to be similar: Mammoth (which I also enjoyed), Der Brysomme Mannen, Cache. Suggest similar movies?