One of the greatest hallmarks of this year’s SXSW is how great a platform it was for first-time directors. Booksmart’s Olivia Wilde proved herself to be a fiercely tender voice for a generation lacking a John Hughes-type. Tom Cullen looks like the next Derek Cianfrance with Pink Wall. From all accounts, Good Boys director Gene Stupnitsky delivers yet another Rogen-Goldberg success.
But there’s one film that has flown under the radar that could set up the wildest career and hopefully quickly reaches the mainstream: Extra Ordinary. Written and directed by Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, they don’t have a catalog to compare their work against, so finding other voices they parallel is an easier job. And I normally don’t like projecting careers after just one movie. But I’ll say it: they could be the next Taika Waititi. Their off-beat comedy, visual gags, and overall personality bring a liveliness previously seen from the cult personality/director.
Part of the charm that festivals provide is seeing creatives in person. Not only do their films screen under ideal circumstances, but their individual personalities jump out beyond their work with a forum to discuss the production process. Loughman and Ahern come across as genuine as their work in Extra Ordinary, a supernatural comedy with as much heart as humor and truth to their high-concept zaniness.
While the comparison to Waititi still abides, the strongest comparison to start comes from the north. Anyone familiar with the cult TV series Look Around You will be immediately on board as this story “based on real events” begins with an educational video series to explain the paranormal. It’s taught that every day, we interact with ghosts. A branch waving in the wind could be a ghost. A jumping pebble could be a ghost. Screams from inside a drawer. You guessed it: ghost. It all brings back memories of your elementary school teacher wheeling in the TV during a rainy day, but instead of learning about the rain forest, we’re learning how to track ghosts.
In steps Rose, played by Maeve Higgins, who–despite not being able to drive in real life–plays a driving instructor. That only seems appropriate since Rose is also a paranormal whisperer and from all accounts, Higgins is not. Regardless, she brings some remarkable realism to a somewhat tragic character whose highlight of the day is bouncing on her exercise ball while eating a snack and avoiding her voicemails. That is until she meets Martin Martin (Barry Ward) whose house is possessed by his late wife, and Martin takes up Rose’s services to cleanse the house and move on with his past life. At the same time, Rose also begins her own life but needs to exorcise her past with her father—the video instructor—as well.
Meanwhile, Christian Winter (Will Forte) has cast a spell on Martin’s daughter to sacrifice her to a demon that has agreed to grant him a new music career following his one-hit wonder from two decades ago. All he has to do is kill a virgin.
With innumerable hijinks throughout, it’s impressive that Extra Ordinary is a cohesive and insightful story of our deepest insecurities all tied to our past. It flies in the face of all sense, grounded by its ensemble’s most inane performances. Forte plays a caricature of a caricature of a washed up musician that has turned to satanism. It’s his Last Man on Earth musical numbers turned up to 12 (be on the look out for Forte’s single to drop on vinyl soon). He’s here to remind us that he’s a national treasure and blends perfectly with the British humor, as does his on-screen unhinged wife Claudia O’Doherty—who should be the envy of every other nation.
Higgins and Ward have the lion’s share of screen time, each bringing an awkwardness that perfectly complements each other, but Ward is given the showier performance with his ability to inhabit other spirits. He’s a truly great voice talent able to take on multiple personalities at once.
But more important than the performances, Loughman and Ahern keep their world tied together though carefully-orchestrated set pieces and just as they jump the shark with one gag, find another one to jump past and make the world right again. There are no rules here. It’s beautiful anarchy done to side-splitting success.
