Showing @ Cineworld, Glasgow, Sat 22 & Sun 23 Feb
Álex de la Iglesia /Spain/France / 2013 / 110 mins
Coming from the twisted imagination of Álex de la Iglesia, this tale of robbers on the run falling into the clutches of a coven of witches, is exactly as odd as you’d hope for from the maker of The Last Circus. Jose (Hugo Silva), Tony (Mario Casas) and Jose’s ten year old son Sergio rob a pawn shop and, after kidnapping a taxi driver and his hapless passenger, they head for the border with France. A food stop at a village bar brings them into the world of cannibalistic, apocalyptic and very angry women headed by Almodóvar regular María Barranco.
The director gets the pitch between comedy and horror just right. For every squirm there’s a laugh and it’s never hampered by anything approaching good taste. Its less than politically correct take on women is matched by having the male sex represented by such a feckless and foolish cross-section. Definitely not of the less-is-more school, Iglesia throws everything at the screen but ultimately there’s so much going on that it topples under the weight of its own ideas. Far from subtle, but great fun Witching and Bitching adds nothing to the debate on sexual politics, but does make for a good night out.