May 01, 2009 06:00PM EDT

Discover: In the Loop

The coal-black political satire of In the Loop starts with a furious torrent of words and doesn't let up until the credits roll. When bumbling Minister of International Development Simon Foster claims "war is unforseeable" in a radio interview, his "position" and tendency for further word salads like "Britain should climb the mountain of conflict" leads him and his team over to America; because in the run-up to a far, of course, Americans need allies and who better than this Brit?

The resulting fly-on-the-wall documentary-style flick is an absolute joy. As the ensemble cast (with James Gandolfini and a small Steve Coogan role as the most familiar faces) parries and barters back and forth, the meaning of words, government double-speak, and the ability to spin anything into a position becomes a way to cut, parry, and mock the institution of government. It's terrifying (it hits its marks) and it's incredibly funny.

The Prime Minister's DIrector of Commmunications, Malcom Tucker (Peter Capaldi) is the slickest of all: he turns the f*** word into a million variations (f***ity being a good one), stalking around and making sure that the ineffective Foster doesn't totally f*** up. Reportedly based on Tony Blair's press secretary Alastair Campbell, this character is a holdover from director Armando Iannucci's BBC series The Thick of It (Iannucci also is behind Coogan's I'm Alan Patridge); if you're a person who may find the idea of Rahm Emmanuel to be kind of sexy, you will probably love Tucker by the end of this film (even if he doesn't have Emmanuel's bedroom eyes).

Iannucci and much of the cast (Gandolfini, Anna Chlumsky, Mimi Kennedy, David Rasche, and Zach Woods) were in attendance for the first screening of the flick at the Festival. There was a lot to learn at the Q&A, starting with the fact that the film took a year to make. The script was a jumping off point, and ultimately, about 15% of the movie ended up being improvised. Lots of the inventive swearing can be credited to writer Ian Martin. (Whether he is The Swear Doctor or not, I am not sure.) Apparently In the Loop has proven prescient for UK politics; shortly after the movie's release Campbell resigned; paralleling a scene where Foster's too scared to order adult films in a DC hotel room, Britain's Home Secretary recently had adult films on her expense account. And Gordon Brown is always smashing up fax machines—just like the film!
 

---

In the Loop has a final screening Saturday at 8:00 pm. Rush tickets are available. IFC is releasing the film in July, and you will have to go see it then, too.

Read more Festival Q&As.