Title: Ebony and Ivory
MPA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Director: Jim Hosking
Starring: Sky Elobar, Gil Gex, Carl Solomon
Runtime: 1 hr 28 mins

What It Is: Stevie (Gex), a blind musical legend, sails to the Mull of Kintyre to visit Paul (Elobar), another musical icon, at a Scottish cottage. As they spend time together, Stevie works to adjust to Paul’s hospitality. Despite occasional disagreements and differences, the unlikely duo must find common ground to create the collaboration the world has been waiting for: the titular song, “Ebony and Ivory.”

What We Think: I had the immense, and somewhat unfortunate, privilege of attending this premiere in person at Fantastic Fest. Was this a wonderful film that filled the theater with giddy joy and disgust? Yessir. Did I have the time of my life drinking lovely amber’s, breaking my neck to watch from the front most row like in that one Seinfeld episode, assaulted by massive close-ups, long pauses, and even longer phalluses on the big screen? That’s right, I did! Not only that, but with some liquid courage in me, I raised my hand for the post-screening Q&A, asked something probably cringeworthy (I blacked out from sensory overload), and became the first victim of the now-iconic, very menacing nugget slide.

I’m proud to say I finally shut up long enough for Sky Elobar to remark, “Here it comes, down the Nugget Slide!” in his Paul McCartney accent, as he elegantly hurled a fat, soggy nugget down its inevitable, treacherous path. It left a trail of grease behind it, falling faster and faster until it lodged itself into my face. I’m even prouder to say I caught that unusually large nugget—in front of Elijah Wood, no less—and triumphantly threw up two middle fingers. And everyone clapped… until I realized there was a disgusting, mushy, cold mound in my mouth. And that’s when my misery began.

Needless to say, I am a survivor—a survivor of the Ebony and Ivory Nugget Slide of Deadly Digestive Inconvenience, as my intestinal tract was left in shambles following the nugget’s rude, undercooked invasion. But we needn’t dwell on the woes of my bowels, as the lingering physical experience was, in a way, a fitting complement to watching a Jim Hosking film. Which is to say: this one was no different.

I love everything Hosking touches, from the iconic The Greasy Strangler to An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn and even Tropical Cop Tales. His brand of absurd, disturbing, gross-out humor, oddball casting, and geriatric pacing is my cup of tea—and most people’s worst nightmare. Straight up: if you aren’t a fan of his previous work, you probably won’t be won over by this one, and that’s just fine. Hosking’s direction is notoriously uncompromising. He’s an auteur in his use of a warbly bug soundtrack and scenes that turn what seem like bland back-and-forth conversations into weird comedy gold. Tim and Eric and Adult Swim come to mind as his contemporaries.

Ebony and Ivory is about two weird dudes who maybe don’t have the most brain cells, but have to put their heads together and sort of figure out why they’re even meeting in the first place—all while doing drugs in a “Scot-ish Cot-idge,” arguing about nothing, and frolicking around naked. It’s a buddy comedy for the gods (in Hell). It’s hard to say much more beyond that. For me, next to Terrifier 3, it was the most enjoyable and hilarious movie I got to see at the festival.

Our Grade: B+, If you love any of Jim Hosking’s work, you’ll love this one too. It’s a vibe. A goofy, simple, enjoyable, shameless romp, Ebony and Ivory is a movie about two stubborn dudes coming together and iconically making one of the most “eh” songs by musical empires in history. Unlike that chicky nuggie I ate at its screening, this flick in contrast was easy and fun to ingest and comes as a high recommendation for any other weirdos who find themselves liking things with a mutilated sense of humor like ours.