Quentin Dupieux is one of the most irreverent and original directors working today.
Said like that, it seems like a virtue and very occasionally it can be, but on most occasions his unquestionable irreverence and originality only leads to total and complete absurdity.
Note that I speak from the experience of someone who has seen four feature films and even a short film by Dupieux, each one more ridiculous than the last.
In Runner there is a killer tire that travels the North American roads in search of victims. In 100% Suede, a fur coat transforms a middle-aged man into a serial killer. In Mandibules, there are a pair of friends who find a giant fly and decide to train it, for inevitably disastrous ends. Finally, in this Smoking Makes You Cough, we have a group of Power Rangers, led by a giant, womanizing rat, like the head of the ninja turtles, fighting against insects and giant turtles, while telling gore stories to each other, in a spiritual retreat, with a talking barracuda participating in the gathering.
All of this is served using some of the most important French actors and actresses today.
If the objective is to scare the viewer with such nonsense, I recognize that it is fully achieved.
But if there should be some surreal message behind such incongruity, I confess that it has escaped me, almost completely.
Never mind!
Said like that, it seems like a virtue and very occasionally it can be, but on most occasions his unquestionable irreverence and originality only leads to total and complete absurdity.
Note that I speak from the experience of someone who has seen four feature films and even a short film by Dupieux, each one more ridiculous than the last.
In Runner there is a killer tire that travels the North American roads in search of victims. In 100% Suede, a fur coat transforms a middle-aged man into a serial killer. In Mandibules, there are a pair of friends who find a giant fly and decide to train it, for inevitably disastrous ends. Finally, in this Smoking Makes You Cough, we have a group of Power Rangers, led by a giant, womanizing rat, like the head of the ninja turtles, fighting against insects and giant turtles, while telling gore stories to each other, in a spiritual retreat, with a talking barracuda participating in the gathering.
All of this is served using some of the most important French actors and actresses today.
If the objective is to scare the viewer with such nonsense, I recognize that it is fully achieved.
But if there should be some surreal message behind such incongruity, I confess that it has escaped me, almost completely.
Never mind!