Melancholy is not an emotion that we usually associate with comedies, at least not in the laugh-a-minute, chortle-every-10-seconds type of movies that most audiences have come to expect from the genre. It takes a rare type of film artist to discover the almost inexpressible wistful sadness and small sense of loss behind the laughter and triumphs of comedic characters. Such an artist is the Scottish writer and director Bill Forsyth, whose sublime brand of filmmaking will be on display in the Dryden during March and April, when we present the first complete North American retrospective of his features. Forsyth will join us in person for screenings of his lovely movies, Local Hero and Housekeeping.

Beginning his career in documentaries, Forsyth made his feature debut in 1980 with a low-budget comedy about a group of Glaswegian teenagers (played by members of Glasgow Youth Theatre) who relieve their boredom by stealing sinks and plumbing supplies. The four main actors in That Sinking Feeling (which wasn't released in the U.S. until 1984) were all cast in Forsyth's sophomore effort, Gregory's Girl, the story of a teenage boy's fixation on the first female member of his school's soccer team. These decidedly quirky first two features are youth comedies populated by unusually wise, even philosophical, youngsters, who make the bittersweet discovery that you can't always get what you want.

The international success of Gregory's Girl paved the way for Forsyth's next-and best-loved-movie, Local Hero. Though produced with support from Warner Bros. and starring two American actors (Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster), Local Hero is remembered today for its unique Scottish-ness and a subtle but ahead-of-its-time message on protecting our natural environment (it's Al Gore's favorite movie). Like Mac, the humbled oil executive hero of Local Hero, radio d.j. Dicky Bird in Comfort and Joy is another foiled romantic who finds himself embroiled in a misadventure; specifically, a war between Glasgow ice cream vendors.

When the producer of Local Hero, David Putnam, was briefly named head of Columbia Pictures, he provided Forsyth the opportunity to make his first American movie. The result was the haunting and criminally neglected masterpiece Housekeeping, starring Christine Lahti as the eccentric guardian of two orphaned girls. Forsyth completed two more wonderful and underseen comedies in the U.S., Breaking In, starring Burt Reynolds and Casey Siemaszko as a professional burglar and his inexperienced protégé, and Being Human, featuring Robin Williams as five characters (or is it just one?) who learn through 10,000 years of history and heartbreak what it means to be alive.

It's been more than a decade since Forsyth completed his last feature, Gregory's 2Girls, a sequel to one of his earlier successes that returned him to filming in Scotland. His body of work reminds us that there's a lot of comfort and joy and beautiful melancholy to be derived from life's ordinariness. Some might say there's no room for his subtle, quiet style of storytelling in a world dominated by increasingly bombastic popular culture, but seeing these films just might remind you that we need Bill Forsyth now more than ever.

Featured Works:

That Sinking Feeling (Bill Forsyth, 1979); Gregory's Girl (Bill Forsyth, 1981); Local Hero (Bill Forsyth, 1983, pictured); Comfort and Joy (Bill Forsyth, 1984); Housekeeping (Bill Forsyth, 1987); Breaking In (Bill Forsyth, 1989); Being Human (Bill Forsyth, 1994); Gregory's 2Girls (Bill Forsyth, 1999)

Program information:

Comfort and Joy: The Bittersweet Comedies of Bill Forsyth

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