AAAAAAAAH! is brimming ideas and details that only repeat viewings will enable you to spot all of them.
The surreal conceit is cleverly introduced like an Attenborough camera poking through the African jungle without narration. However, in Oram’s film it’s a locked frame staring into a South London patch of woodland as the director and Tom Meetan emerge out of the fauna and flora before resting on a fallen tree stump. It’s difficult to spot the animalistic tendencies at first, but it soon becomes clear that Meetan’s actions are one of deferment to Oram’s alpha male. Next we move to the main gorilla nest - Julian Rhind-Tutt andToyah Wilcox’s house. This is the focal point of the story about the patriarch, played superbly by Julian Barratt, who was toppled from his position of power and now lives in the backyard feeding on Battenberg cake his daughter (Lucy Honigman) sneaks out to him. The Might Boosh reunion is complete with a cameo appearance from Noel Fieldingas a clothes shop sales assistant. Reduced to such rudimentary actions and means of communication must have drained the cast and at times it borders on humiliating. Nevertheless, the trust in Oram’s vision is present in every scene. None more so than the stand out supporting performance by Holli Dempsey (Vicky from Ricky Gervais’s Derek) as one of Honigman’s friends.
AAAAAAAAH! is a difficult watch, but given there is a story to follow is far from unwatchable. It is brimming ideas and details that only repeat viewings will enable you to spot all of them.
