Customer Reviews

Leon the Pig Farmer [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was a strange movie, but I love it. It was very funny. And the reilgous jokes were not that bad. Mark Frankel did a great job. I love the whole part were he is at the bowling alley. When he got hit in the face by the ball, I never thought I was going to stop laughing. It was a great movie. Everyone should see it. I would buy it for a friend

Thanks
Rbecca Brown

A wonderful, funny, thoughtful movie with Jewish themes, concerning identity, family and love. Strongly recommended. I bought this movie several years ago after seeing it at the Palm Springs film festival. Also has a very good "jazz" sound tract.

If you have strong religious views better skip this one. If not, this is a hilarious little British gem done in the best Richard Lester tradition, with lots of talent and practically no money at all.. Wonderful performances all around (notably the late Mark Frankel) but Maryam D'Abo steals the show as the ultimate goy sex kitten from hell! Great fun!

Well, perhaps you won't have to wait that long to see this gem of a British comedy from the late Nineties. Good thing, too, if you like this sort of thing: quirky, smart, fresh, and completely disarming. It seems to have come in rather below the radar of most film viewers in the U.S., and it's still (as of Sept. '03) available only on VHS in the States. Start lobbying now for a DVD viewable in America, 'cause you're going to want to own it, and you're going to want to show it to all your friends--all, that is, who might be in the mood for something offbeat and weird. (A Jewish-British quest romance, anyone?) But the film eludes simple categorization. It's hard to imagine how any casual flight of whimsy could have produced this particular, tender riff on the classic coming-of-age situation. Be forewarned, though, guys: it's a bad choice for a date movie.

I too think this is a wonderfu, funny, offbeat and weird movie that should be available on DVD. A great, friendly satire on some obvious Jewish stereotyes, and some not so obvious, which viewers who are not Jewish might miss. I'm buying this movie for the third time now. I keep loaning it to rabbi's who tell me how much they enjoyed the movie, but never give it back.

Don't let the unfortunate title of this film dissuade you. 'Leon' is a terrific, delightful and light comedic film. The late, so-very-handsome Mark Frankel stars as Leon Geller, a young Jew seeking a better career, love, and his true roots. Completely believable, Frankel is delightful and completely charming all the way. His character Leon is a kosher Jew, and the film satirizes Jewish culture with wit and a very clever script. Frankel manages to create a tender and highly likeable Leon...the sort of young man you want to protect, Jewish-mother style. Leon discovers he's the product of artificial insemination (A.I.), but a test tube mixup means his biological dad is, well, a pig farmer. The obligatory scene where he must give a sperm sample is included, but is hilariously fresh because Leon is told to produce the sample from behind a flimsy screen...and behind the screen are glass walls all round, so he's essentially performing the deed in a very public forum. Priceless. As well, wonderful lines abound in this story: When his farm family try to emulate Jewish culture to make Leon feel more at home, he protests that they cannot possibly do so because Jews have acquired "...five thousand years of persecution. Five thousand years of guilt!"

Now down on the farm, Leon accidentally mixes up an A.I. test tube while assisting the farm veterinarian in an A.I. sow breeding. The result is born half-pig, half-sheep. The brilliant thing here is that the viewer never gets to see this animal...it is carried around by Leon in a gym bag, intermittently oinking and baa-ing. Really, this absurdity is just too funny and any description here does not do it justice. The only thing disappointing about the film is the regrettable title, which is off-putting. Oy, that title was a mistake for sure. The film does not try to be anything more than it is, and in its restraint, there is much to chuckle about. A must-see for anyone familiar with Jewish culture. The film won various film festival awards, deservedly so. If you liked Waking Ned Devine, The Full Monty or early Woody Allen films, you will enjoy the humor in this gem, made on a $340,000 budget, which makes it feel even more Jewish. As Leon's mother would say...To you, I recommend.