"Waiter" Review From SIFF!

I don't know how but I'm certainly not going to complain. In my trips to SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival) I have never not struck gold. And recently it hasn't just been SIFF. "Waiter" is the third movie in a row that I've been to and been completely blown away by.
Alex van Warmerdam's new Dutch film tells the story of Edgar (played by van Warmerdam), a waiter at a less than stellar and less than busy restaurant. He's in his fifties and been a waiter for half of his life. The opening sequence perfectly illustrates life in the service industry. Edgar is reviled, treated like a peasant, and verbally abused by customers, and all the while they expect him to have a smile on his face. He and his co-workers have little reason to smile however and it shows. After another thankless night and an unhappy affair with Victoria (Ariane Schluter), Edgar heads home to his sick wife and is forced to deal with music so loud from next door that it rattles the house like an earthquake. With things going from bad to worse, Edgar just can't take it anymore. He's fed up. And with that he bursts into the apartment of the screenwriter, Herman (Mark Rietman).
Herman is not happy about this. "Get out!" he yells at Edgar. "You're fictitious." Herman isn't crazy. His girlfried Suzie (Thekla Reuten) sees Edgar too. All Edgar wants is a little happiness. Just a little. "Why must I suffer?" he asks Herman. A perfectly reasonable question. After a bit of deliberation, Herman decides to write Edgar's wife out of the screenplay so that Edgar won't have to deal with the bed-ridden woman. He also writes in a younger girlfriend, Stella (Line Van Wambeke), to give Edgar just a moment of happiness. But between his job, his complicated relationships, and his mobster neighbors, Edgar's joy is fleeting.
Like "Stranger Than Fiction" we see a character who is fully aware that he is a character. But while "Fiction's" Harold Crick was a man who strongly fought for his reality, Edgar seems resigned to the fact that he's fictional and there's nothing he can do. His only hope after he is physically abused by a smarmy businessman is to beg Herman for a few good lines. "Can't you let me stand up for myself?" he asks. Again, a perfectly reasonable question. Herman is in control of Edgar's world however, and he wants Edgar to suffer. The pain (physical and otherwise) that Edgar suffers all comes from the mind of Herman and we can't help but feel that, ya know what, Herman's a jerk! Edgar is allowed a moment of happiness here and there when Suzie sneaks over to the computer and writes a new scene. Herman quickly erases these moments from Edgar's life however.
In spite of the depressing subject matter, "Waiter" is actually very very funny. It's a wonderful dark comedy and van Warmerdam's screenplay, direction, and performance are all top notch. Sadly, I think this will end up being much like last year's "OSS 117." An outstanding film that gets a couple of SIFF screenings and never gets a regular U.S. release. It would be a shame. This is a genuinely great film. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to get it on DVD from somewhere. It's movies like this that make me glad I have a region 0 player. 10/10