The Executioner

1963 Spanish black comedy

Rating: 16/20

Plot: A mortician falls in love with the daughter of an executioner and reluctantly takes her dad's place when he retires.

This might appeal only to those who have a special kind of sense of humor. I caught traces of Tati or Buster Keaton, Roy Andersson, and Czech movies from the same decade in this dark comedy from Luis Garcia Berlanga, a guy who's skilled at  slamming together tones that should not work together but somehow do here. I suppose there are a lot of people who would watch this and miss nearly every clever visual gag, maybe until the end when the movie's ironic punchline makes it kind of hard to miss.