Exploding from subtly understated dialogue and comic inaction into an almost psychedelic assault on the senses, The Magic Beans is probably the only foreign language film I have ever truly enjoyed.
The premise is simple, though layered with meaning and hang-on-a- minute-did-that-just-happen moments. Four actors – tasked with rehearsing while they await their director – are holed up in a heat- sink of a house. And as temperatures climb, so too do their inner frustrations (there's a particularly amusing scene in which one of the male leads attempts to hypnotise his love interest). But here's the rub: lethargy has conquered the protagonists' resolve...
The driest, wryest humour segues into a panoply of over-the-top excitements, in a film that examines what happens when our strangest impulses are displayed in full, glorious technicolour. Thought-provoking and light-hearted at the same time; very fresh and unusual.
Fully recommended!
