Star of My Best Friend's Wedding Does Funerals!

The romantic comedy My Best Friend’s Wedding has proven to be the comeback vehicle that Julia Roberts has been praying for. Wedding also proved to be a dark horse among the summer of 97’s mega- budget blockbusters. Apparently it’s not a bad little film – the reviews were overwhelmingly positive and the box-office record spoke for itself. The one factor that most everyone seemed to agree upon, however, is the outstanding performance of relative newcomer (in the U.S. anyway) Rupert Everett. Heck, he got nominated for an Academy Award, fercryinoutloud! As a result, Everett has become the focus of a P.R. whirlwind which will no doubt result in a long and prosperous career. It’s a shame that the Hollywood machine wasn’t aware of Mr. Everett’s talents a few years ago. Perhaps then Cemetery Man would’ve gotten the attention and distribution it deserved.

Loosely based on the popular Italian comic book Dylan Dog, Cemetery Man stars Rupert Everett as Francesco Dellamorte; groundskeeper for the Buffalora Cemetery. Sprawling and gothic, Buffalora is no ordinary cemetery – because the dead that are interred here inexplicably rise a week after burial. Dellamorte doesn’t know if this phenomenon occurs all over the world, in his particular region, or if it’s unique to this one cemetery. Nor does he care. Being a groundskeeper is his job. And that includes keeping the dead in their places by "killing them again." An existential philosopher at heart, Dellamorte has greater concerns. Like the meaning of life, the intangible and transitory nature of love, the inevitability of death, and the futility of existence . . .

This bare-bones synopsis doesn’t do justice to the emotional depth and profundity of Cemetery Man. Sound heavy? It is. But it’s also humorous, engaging, beautiful, and extremely entertaining. A Tim Burton film for grown-ups, Cemetery Man is a dream-like meditation on love, life, sex, and death; where the fantastic is mundane and the mundane fantastically unattainable.

Shot in Italy in 1994, Cemetery Man didn’t see the light of American projectors until last year. Re-titled and packaged as a "gore comedy" by its American distributors, it was a commercial failure. Released on video a few months later with no fanfare whatsoever, it faded into obscurity. This is a shame because the film is beautifully orchestrated and lushly photographed – a true study in cinematic technique. The film’s director, Michele Soavi, is a protégé’ of Dario Argento – considered by many to be one of the masters of fantastic film – and served as the second unit director for Terry Gilliam’s Baron Munchausen. Cemetery Man strikes a perfect balance between the former director’s complex camera technique and the latter’s sense of phantasmagoric whimsy.

Rupert Everett doesn’t have to steal the show this time because the entire film belongs to him. His performance lends charm and empathy to an otherwise morose and ineffectual character, which is a pretty mean feat. Italian model Anna Falchi is mesmerizing as the three loves (and subsequent losses) of Dellamorte. Her mysterious, exotic beauty is worth the price of rental alone.

Cemetery Man’s original title, Dellamorte, Dellamore means "of death, of love." This title certainly sums up the tone and scope of the film better than the idiot American title. One of the best movies of ’96, I highly recommend it. Look for it in the horror section. Or maybe comedy. Or foreign. Or romance. Or drama. Or . . . Just be sure to look.