The Embalmer

Odd, sporadically engrossing and finally almost appealing, this little film is about a young man who gets a job working with a diminutive, strangely charming taxidermist, only to discover that he does jobs for the Mob and can be very possessive, especially when the apprentice finds himself a girlfriend. It's intermittently amusing and unsettling, but the narrative can get wayward and the direction heavy-handed, with flashy shots hard to fathom in terms of precise relevance or import. However, the spirited performances by a charismatic cast make it watchable.