There’s no escaping from the horrors of nuclear-family suburbia. With Greener Grass, it’s difficult to really comment on the film’s bizarre nature, without ruining the delightful obscurity and it’s absurd sequence of events. It’s a film that specifically delves into the confines of a pitch-perfect multi-verse, a technicolor fantasy of walking, moving puppets. Adapted from the short film of the same name, Greener Grass is an enchanting view point on first world dilemmas; with a manic cross-dressing serial killer included. Divorce, parenthood, and middling middle-class societal expectations are a few of many topics covered in a winsome, deadpan manner. Everything, from the perfectly symmetrical sets, to the unhinged performances from the cast and crew (children and an adorable golden retriever included), are exaggerated to the point where the film perfectly blurs the line between riveting satire and WTF comedy.
Earlier this year, there was another film that attempted to emulate Greener Grass’s dry, crass, and surrealist deadpan delivery. With Jennifer Reeder’s Knives and Skin, the main problem was that it never reached the same highs and lows with it’s commentary. What makes Greener Grass an exemplary work of absurdist comedy, is largely due to the film’s constant awareness of what it’s attempting to mock. Where other peculiar features constantly fail in line-delivery, and execution; Greener Grass never loses focus of it’s key central purpose. Suburbia, or more so overtly posh, white high middle class communities can be genuinely ghastly. Gossip and the endless search for independent liberty often times drown innocent civilians into a whirlpool of senseless decision making; a horror story where the victim’s actions are completely decided on the expectations of a given demographic.
It’s pure unfiltered lunacy in the most obscure way possible; how the pressures of neighbors, community group meetings, and the occasional Sunday afternoon barbecue can turn the most susceptible person insane. The periphery of society can be a monotonous experience, where one’s attempts at escaping the hustle and bustle of consumerists desires, are instantly replaced with ideologies based on capitalist greed. Greener Grass is a cautionary fable. Within the layers of hilarious hi-jinks and extraordinary antics, the film’s core is based on a horrifying truth; the bi-product of decade-sprawling gentrification.
Greener Grass is a viciously vibrant impromptu of shit-posting; a five-star meal of perfectly-coordinated chaos and nonsensical absurdity. It’s as if Dario Argento remade Adult Swim’s Too Many Cooks into feature form. Keen on starting discourse and creating gut busting belly laughs, Greener Grass is a success in impassive entertainment. If there’s one horror film to see this Halloween, make it Greener Grass! It’s guaranteed to certainly spook and alarm the majority of its viewers, into a frenzy of self-realization and systematic identity.
Greener Grass is Now Playing in Select Cinemas
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