Canadian filmmaker Ron Murphy fits an incredible amount of plot into his second feature, Back in Black, a dark comedy about a struggling, family-run funeral home that finds business booming under increasingly suspicious circumstances.
The film juggles a sprawling ensemble and a web of subplots, but Murphy and co-writer Nick Torokvei ensure that every detour matters as its many moving parts click satisfyingly into place. Their smartest decision was keeping protagonist Sam — performed with playful physicality by Toronto’s Ella Ballentine (Anne of Green Gables, The Monster) — dialogue-free, a choice that never feels gimmicky, while giving the surrounding cast room to shine.
As the family patriarch, Christopher Walken brings his signature eccentric charm, though the screenplay itself is the real star. For all its death and morbid humour, Back in Black is unexpectedly warm and comforting, populated by oddballs that keep you curious enough to see what they stumble into next.
