'The Little Hours', 2017

I couldn’t stop chuckling all throughout ‘The Little Hours’ (2017), a medieval comedy (on Netflix!) written and directed by Jeff Baena. The movie takes place at a convent in Italy in 1347, but the characters talk and act like modern-day people. Three of the nuns routinely harass the gardener, who soon quits. That same day, the Abbott of the nuns, Father Tommasso, has left on a trip to try and sell some of the nuns’ embroidery. Meanwhile, in another Italian town about 40 miles away, a young servant in a castle (named Massetto) is caught having sex with his master’s wife. He runs away and soon encounters Father Tommasso, drunk on ceremonial wine, after his cart and donkey have gone off the path. In exchange for helping the Father, Tommasso agrees to take on the servant as his new gardener. But to discourage any of the nuns from harassing him (or seducing him), Tommasso tells Massetto he must pretend to be a deaf-mute. A whole lot of other stuff happens and the movie actually gets pretty nutty - but the whole time, you’re guaranteed to be laughing.

Some things I liked: Though the movie takes place in medieval times, the behavior and language of the characters is contemporary. I don’t know what it is about this mixture, but it’s absolutely hilarious watching nuns in habits swear like sailors. The cast contains many recognizable actors and actresses, including Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Dave Franco, Nick Offerman, and John C. Reilly. The plot, and characters, continually surprised me and kept me guessing (and laughing) til the very end.

Some things I didn’t like: The movie began shooting with a 28-page outline instead of a script, and much of the dialogue is improvised by the cast, so this does make for some confusion, but also makes the movie *hilarious*. The picturesque shots of the convent in Italy belie the truly raunchy and overall silly nature of the movie, but if you can see that as a positive, you’ll enjoy the film. It’s a risky bet on whether audiences will like it - critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 78%, while only 48% of audience members enjoyed it.

The five words I would use to describe this film: vulgar, unexpected, hilarious, weird, unconventional

My queer take: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the queer parts of this film… But just picture 30 nuns in a convent together and you’ll imagine how things could get a little sapphic. If you’re not averse to raunchy humor and completely unexpected plot twists, you’ll enjoy what ‘The Little Hours’ has to offer.

Fun fact: In the Christian religion, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day, with fixed periods of prayer at regular interval. The movie gets its title from the ‘little hours’ throughout the day that aren’t a part of the three major hours.

Another fun fact (because I couldn’t resist): The screenplay of the film is actually based on two short stories by the medieval poet Giovanni Boccaccio, from his collection ‘The Decameron’.