The Plot Against Harry

Michael Roemer's 1971 American film follows a small-time Jewish mobster out of prison. Harry finds that his circle has dispersed, the neighbourhood has changed and nobody needs him; he tries to belong somewhere again. The humour comes from a lack of reaction. Harry is never surprised and meets every disaster with the same flat expression; the comedy grows from that. The scenes were shot like documentary and the crowds are real. When the film was finished it found no distributor and went unseen for about twenty years. It resurfaced by chance at the end of the eighties and was seriously admired then; today it counts among the independent comedies of its period. Who it's for: those who like seventies American independent cinema and deadpan comedy. Who it's not for: viewers expecting high energy; the film is calm and episodic.