The Laughing Third Party: A Stinky Village Feud

Is it worth the watch?

If you like movies that feel like a dusty postcard from a place you’ve never visited, sure. It’s for folks who appreciate petty, small-town grudges and people screaming in German dialects. If you need pacing that doesn’t drag or high-stakes drama, you’ll probably find yourself checking your watch every ten minutes.

There is something inherently funny about a guy choosing to ruin his own property just to annoy his neighbor. The farmer really leans into the 'smelly neighbor' bit with a commitment that is honestly kind of impressive.

The hotel is all pristine wood and fancy linens, and then there’s the pile. It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion, except the train is made of manure. 💩

The movie doesn't have the grand, sweeping visual scope of something like Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, but it isn't trying to. It’s intimate and loud in a way that feels like it’s happening on your neighbor's front lawn.

Some random thoughts:

• The cast is massive for such a small story. Sometimes you wonder why there are so many people just standing around in the background.
• The dialogue is sharp, even if I spent half the time trying to keep up with who is shouting at whom.
• There is a moment near the middle where the hotel owner tries to complain to the authorities, and the local official just doesn't care. It’s brutally relatable.

It’s not as chaotic or technically inventive as the stuff you’d see in It's in the Air, but it has a weird, stubborn charm. It feels like a stage play that got lost on its way to a camera crew.

The middle act sags a bit. There’s a lot of walking around and looking angry at fences. I almost wanted to reach into the screen and just move the pile myself so we could move on to the next scene.

Is it a masterpiece? No. But watching a guy lose his mind over a heap of fertilizer is a specific kind of entertainment that we don't really get anymore. Sometimes, less is more, but here, the stink is the star.