Hoezo in KINO

Luis Buñuel, the Spanish master of surreal satire shocked the world with his 1929 short Un chien andalou, in collaboration with Salvador Dali. But even thirty four years on and without the mustachioed provocateur, Buñuel was able to get under the powdered bourgeois skin with arguably his best film, The Exterminating Angel. The rather dull sounding premisse of a cackle of wealthy guests congregating for an evening of fine dining and entertainment, turns into a biting exposé on the all too thin veneer of civilisation swiftly stripped away when it turns out the guests are unable to leave the premises. The film is a gradual escalation of absurdity that doesn’t spoon-feed but rather hints with small gestures and oddities that we’re in for quite a finale. An essential classic and an obvious influence on Anderson’s own surrealist streak, at times. Spanish language with English subtitles.