Bunny and the Bull is a surreal take on a road trip film from Paul King in his directorial debut, with an affecting emotional story at its centre.
Our main character is Stephen (Edward Hogg), who reminisces about the road trip he took with his friend Bunny (Simon Farnaby) the year before, the results of which saw him not leave his house since then.
What works so well about this is the pairing of Hogg and Farnaby, with the more straight-laced and socially awkward Stephen contrasting with the reckless and outgoing Bunny. It creates plenty of daft, but great, comedy and sees conflict develop between the two throughout the story.
The narrative is also populated with some bizarre and unique supporting characters, played by many who collaborated with King on The Mighty Boosh, including Noel Fielding, Richard Ayoade and Julian Barratt. Verónica Echegui also does well as Eloisa, who joins Stephen and Bunny partway through their trip.
An major part of the filmmaking that should be commended is the idiosyncratic set design. It's immensely creative with the mix of animated and real backgrounds which are bursting with colour. As the plot switches between Stephen's house in the present day and the road trip on plenty of occasions, every transition between the two is insanely inventive, and always left me anticipating how they would facilitate the next one.
The set design also impresses on a narrative level as items from Stephen's home start infiltrating his memories of the road trip as the more painful elements come to the surface for him again.
King and his crew make great use of just a £750,000 budget, and it's enjoyable to see them take a more challengingly creative route in telling this sort of story.
Going back to the story it builds up in emotional resonance as it goes along, and is surprisingly impactful towards the end for what had been a relatively light-hearted comedy. Stephen's character growth may be predictable, but it's still satisfying in the context of the plot.
It's quite frustrating in my eyes that this flopped financially, with it grossing only $81,000 at the box office, but I hope I can encourage some of you to give this a watch.
Final Verdict
It's a daft British comedy with a mature level of emotional storytelling, and an impressive level of production. It's certainly something I would recommend seeking out.
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