The Sex Lives of Cannibals

Author(s): Evan
Location: Unknown

"The Sex Lives of Cannibals”

Directed by Marc Forster
Screenplay by J. Maarten Troost
Based on the Travelogue by J. Maarten Troost

Principal Cast:

Aaron Eckhart as Maarten
Juliette Lewis as Sylvia
Catherine Keener as Kate
Giovanni Ribisi as the Poet-Laureate of Kiribati

Tagline: "Welcome to Kiribati… quite possibly the worst place on Earth"

Synopsis: From what little had been written about Kiribati on the internet, it sounded like Prague Post writer J. Maarten Troost and his foreign aid worker girlfriend Sylvia would be living in paradise on a remote island in the South Pacific. But since when can one trust the information on the internet? After their arrival in the capital Tarawa after a several-day-long trek across the Pacific, the couple finds out that Kiribati is quite possibly the worst place on Earth. Perhaps it is because it is unbearably hot and humid; or that one can only eat fish and even then, only those which survive the attacks by packs of stray dogs on the return trip from the store. Maybe it’s the fact that someone can take something of yours simply by saying, “I bubuti you for your coin” or “shoes” or “goat;” or that the most popular song on the island is “La Macarena,” which is played continuously, along with its various remixes, on the national radio. No matter the reason, Maarten and Sylvia discover that perhaps this move to “paradise” wasn’t all they thought it would be. As they watch the Chinese government take up precious space to build what they believe is a spy station and South Korean fishing boats depleting the nation’s waters of the island’s main food source, Maarten witnesses the destruction of the island’s culture to corruption and capitalism—and after all he’s experienced, he wonders if perhaps that’s not such a bad thing after all…

What the press would say:

Perhaps the most humorous film so far this year, Marc Forster’s newest film is an island-hopping romp through the South Pacific. Based upon the travelogue of J. Maarten Troost, The Sex Lives of Cannibals brings the audience to the small atoll of Tarawa in the island nation of Kiribati (pronounced Kir-i-bas), where Maarten (Aaron Eckhart) will live for two years while his girlfriend Sylvia (Juliette Lewis) works with a development agency.

The film starts off with Maarten receiving a phone call from his girlfriend Sylvia notifying him that she has taken a position in Kiribati, an archipelagic nation of which he has never heard. After getting the pronunciation correct and doing a little internet searching, the couple is off to Tarawa, the capital. But isn’t long before the couple has had enough. On a tour with Sylvia’s predecessor Kate (Catherine Keener), who is all too ready to get out of the country, Maarten and his girlfriend are introduced to life on the island, where children play on an airport runway and a few hours of electricity in between several-day-long power failures is a treat. Not surprisingly, the couple begins to wonder if perhaps they have made a bad decision. Throughout the rest of the film, the viewer is treated to a myriad of hilarious situations that the couple finds themselves in during their two years on the island, scenes ranging from the night Sylvia wakes up with a cockroach in her ear to the couple’s meeting with the self-proclaimed “Poet Laureate of Kiribati,” a drunken twenty-something (Giovanni Ribisi) who is living the high life in a hut provided by the government after composing a horrendous poem about the nation. But despite all the difficulties of living on the island, by the end, Maarten and Sylvia have grown attached to their new nation. Upon their return to the States, the couple finds such a culture shock that they decide that the island life is the only one for them.

The Sex Lives of Cannibals follows in the footsteps of a spate of films employing intelligent humor, namely 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine and Thank You for Smoking (also starring Eckhart) and 2004’s Sideways. Aaron Eckhart outdoes his performance in ‘Smoking’ as he shows his versatility as an actor, combining Maarten’s deadpan cynicism toward island life with several scenes of physical comedy. The score, composed by Hans Zimmer, will transport the audience to the Pacific with its basis in traditional Micronesia rhythms and chants. And the screenplay, adapted by the real-life Maarten Troost from his book, keeps the spirit of the original alive while adjusting the story to better fit the screen, giving it more of a plot focused upon Maarten’s quest to write a novel (which ends up to be the events of his stay) and tying together the many hysterical but random tribulations of his time on the island. Troost gives the audience the laughs that it wants, but also shows the serious side of life on Kiribati, a nation exploited and destroyed by the United States and Japan in World War II for its strategic position and whose resources are sold by the corrupt government to foreign companies. A film combining hilarity with an important message against exploitation, The Sex Lives of Cannibals will certainly join the annals of classic comedies and, as one of the most endearing and inventive films in years, it should hopefully be in contention during the coming award season.

For Your Consideration:

Best Picture
Best Director- Marc Forster
Best Actor- Aaron Eckhart
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Original Score- Hans Zimmer