Now that I'm guilty of introducing sentimentality into today's discussion, and since I'm a little more lubricated and gabby than usual, I owe Kevin, and Jack a few words on the subject of poignancy.

First of all, I need to say that I'll never apologize for driving anyone to drink, as apparently I did by convincing Kevin to watch Kitchen Stories. I've discovered many of my favorite movies after having driven myself to drink.

Second, though, I confess to having forgotten the details of the ending of the movie. I went and watched it again a few nights ago and truth be told, it starts to go a little off the rails about half way through. The tone turns darker well before the denouement. However, I also want to say that I think it's almost impossible to avoid the ending we see in this movie. Certainly there is no way that Nilsson, the Swedish researcher, can cross the border back into Sweden. He has had a conversion experience and has to turn around, escape the world of corporate metrics he came from and basically become his subject, Bjorvik.

I also think it should be pointed out that we're talking about 3 minutes of poignancy out of 180, a much lower percentage than the vast majority of "comedies" that have appeared the last 30 years or so. I recently read a nifty book called The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker and he makes it plain that such poignancy is almost essential to the narrative arc of comedies like this. I think those few minutes are a small price to pay for the priceless humor of the preceding hour and a half.

I'm a devotee of black humor and I mean really black humor, and I can hardly think of a single example that doesn't betray the purity of the genre in one way or another. From W.C. Fields to Aki Kaurismaki, my favorite film comedians have all allowed a ray or two of sentimentality into their pictures.

Here are some of my favorite movie comedies: Adam's Apples; Aaltra; It's A Gift; Amarcord; Withnail and I; Calamari Union; Saps at Sea; Dr. Strangelove; Kind Hearts and Coronets.

At some point in all of these, someone dies or someone has a moment's weakness and poignancy rears its ugly head. Like a sugar cube in reverse, it's worth it in order to be able to gorge on the rest of the laughs these movies offer. So Jack, if you actively avoid Kitchen Stories on account of these last few moments we're talking about, I think you're denying yourself a lot of joy.

Out of curiosity, though, can you suggest some examples of comedic movies that are free from poignancy? Outside of the work of the Farrelly brothers, I mean.