Review

The Final Member

Rating: Four stars (out of five)

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Wow. You won’t believe your eyes, and you’ll surely find it hard to suppress laughter amid this “are-you-kidding-me?” documentary detailing Reykjavik curator Siggi Hjartarson’s earnest attempts to find a worthy human penis to complement his collection of mammalian phalluses, from minuscule (hamster) to massive (sperm whale) at his Icelandic Phallological Museum. The obsessive intellectual who also showcases everything from handmade penis-shaped utensils to a mini-bar isn’t doing this for laughs. It’s hard not to giggle, however, during the film’s showdown between two potential donors. Will it be Pall Arason, a boastful 93-year-old Icelandic adventurer and womanizer whose greatest concern is his member might not meet the minimum five-inch requirement by the time he croaks? Or will the honour go to Tom Mitchell, a California exhibitionist so patriotic he has the stars-and-stripes on his penis, which he calls Elmo. He prizes his package so much he even offered to have it severed for posterity while he’s living. To their credit, directors Zach Math and Jonah Bekhor treat this bizarre topic and their subjects with respect, refraining from cheap sex jokes, and instead letting the inherent absurdity of it all speak for itself.

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