Bernie

Indie darling Richard Linklater returns home with Bernie, a bizarre true story of murder and community spirit in a small Texan town. Jack Black (in superb, restrained, creepy form) plays the titular funeral director, unfalteringly chirpy and beloved by all. Bernie befriends Marjorie (the indomitable Shirley MacLaine), a monstrous – not to mention monstrously wealth – widow who is unwaveringly foul and despised for it. This odd couple become near inseparable, marking their time together with lavish spending and luxury holidays... until Bernie snaps and offs the old dame.

There’s a delicious matter-of-fact absurdity here, the overwhelming strangeness of what unfolds heightened by a lack of sensationalism. While actors portray key players, some real townsfolk offer their accounts to camera. These eccentric contributions of folksy wit and wisdom provide real colour, and are treated warmly by Linklater when they could so easily have been sneered at. A beautifully constructed, smartly scripted and very funny tall tale of down-home values and darkness in the most unlikely of places. [Chris Fyvie]