Rumours

I was really looking forward to watching Rumours since the premise seemed original and the trailer looked fun without giving away too much. I still enjoy zombie movies, even though there are countless examples in the genre, because with some talent and unique ideas, they can still be great.

In this film, the leaders of the seven wealthiest liberal democracies are having their annual G7 meeting in a gazebo, while something strange begins happening in the world, with zombie-like creatures appearing in the woods. The movie is a satire and heavily dialogue-driven, which I didn't mind, and the bits of humor sprinkled throughout felt like a fitting touch.

However, as the movie progresses, nothing significant really happens. The characters interact and speculate about what might be going on, but there's no real climax. It's mostly talking and walking through dark woods with little action. Occasionally, the zombies or "Bog People Dancers" as they are credited appear in the distance, but they don't pose any real threat.

I understand what the movie is trying to achieve, but it's simply not entertaining and definitely doesn't warrant a 104-minute runtime. The acting was fine, though the inconsistent accents were noticeable but not overly distracting, but still worth mentioning.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed. While there might be a small niche audience that enjoys Rumours, the majority likely won't find it engaging. [4,7/10]

Buñuel's movies might be lacking some zombies (at least I don't recall their presence). But IMHO they're much more to the point when it comes to avant-garde surrealism infused with political commentary. For artful, unconventional, surrealist and political satirical films, Buñuel is probably still the bench mark.

I'd strongly suggest that rather spending your time and money on the quite boring 'Rumours', you try to get your hands on VHS or Disc copy of Buñuel's first movie 'Un Chien Andalou' (The Andalusian Dog) from 1929, an unprecedented collaboration with Salvador Dalí. Or enjoy some of his classics such as 'The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie' (1972) or 'That Obscure Object of Desire' (1977).

Truly good satire needs a razor-sharp edge to succeed, but this latest effort from director Guy Maddin (in collaboration with filmmaking partners Evan and Galen Johnson) falls stunningly flat, resulting in a rambling, unfocused slog that somehow manages to mix messages and symbology that are simultaneously both cryptically understated and patently obvious. Set at a G7 summit in Germany, world leaders from the host country and their American, Canadian, British, French, Italian and Japanese counterparts (along with delegates from the European Union) hold their annual gathering to discuss the state of the world and pat themselves on the back for a self-congratulatory job well done (despite not possessing the requisite skills to accomplish anything meaningful or of substantive consequence other than keeping their nations' respective seats warm). They smile their hollow smiles and make empty though allegedly profound observations about a variety of subjects, all while attempting to craft one of their famous joint statements (position papers that the American president openly admits no one ever reads). In this case, the communique is meant to address some kind of undefined global crisis, but it appears to be one with apocalyptic overtones. But, in the course of their "work" - an undertaking for which they're far from qualified - they quickly find themselves in over their heads when the infrastructure around them begins to crumble, a circumstance made more ominous by the appearance of inexplicable apparitions and zombie-like bog creatures straight out of classic folklore and middle European fairy tales. One might think that this would make for an interesting premise in telling a surrealistically satirical fable about the state of contemporary world politics, but the execution here is so poorly carried off that it ends up amounting to little more than oh so much intellectual and symbolic masturbation (depicted here a little too literally and repetitive at that). To complicate matters, the narrative incorporates countless developments that go wholly unexplained, some of which presumably have to do with the symbolic emasculation of a prevailing patriarchal world in favor of an emerging female-directed paradigm, but others of which are just so enigmatically absurd that they defy description, explanation or purpose (there's more of that masturbation again, only this time reflected in the nature of the picture's screenplay elements). The overall result is a mess of a movie that, despite its gifted ensemble cast and atmospheric cinematography and production design, just doesn't work, especially since the insights it's trying to impart aren't particularly new, revelatory or funny. We're well aware of how inept many of the world's supposedly astute leaders are these days, including the fact that they're cluelessly engaged in little more than what amounts to unconscious acts of that aforementioned "self-love" (and self-aggrandizing ones at that), but do we really need a movie to remind us of that (especially one as shabbily made as this)? No thanks. If I were you, I'd duck out of this one and see what else is playing at the multiplex (or, better yet, skip it altogether).

Rumour has it there's a new movie out written and directed by 3 different people: Galen Johnson, Evan Johnson, and Guy Madden. A Canadian/German production, RUMOURS is a satirical look at the annual G7 summit, gathering together 7 of the world leaders who try to prepare a joint statement to address an unspecified world crisis. I really enjoy weird movies, but this one almost pushed my tolerance to the limit. It took a bit to understand the kind of humour this movie is going for. I appreciate it a tiny bit more now that I've had time to contemplate. Basically, it's a movie that says politicians and world leaders are more focused on drawing up a statement than actually taking any action. There is still one aspect of the movie I still don't understand, which I can't tell you about, just know it's very weird. According to this movie, politics is just one big circle-jerk. A few standout performances from Cate Blanchett, Roy Dupius, and Denis Ménochet carry the film. So much of RUMOURS is strange and surreal, but I feel like it's full of symbolism and metaphors. I understood some of them. By the end, I think I had a fun time?

Giving this an 6/10 rating

So bizarre is this film, six of us were in the screen when I watched it, and three walked out about 40 minutes into it, and too be fair, I can understand, this film is horror, comedy, satire and political drama, you get all of that, thanks to Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson and Guy Maddin. All three writing and directing this madness.

This is Guy Maddin, all over, so I expected it weird and arthouse, not making any real sense neither, well ,some kid of plot, which is there, thanks to the acting of Cate Blanchett, Charles Dance, and others with Alicia Vikander doing a some very odd work here. The cast had some real work to do in this, and with the most strangest dialogue and situations this year, it was not a total loss, not one to walk out on, if you knew what to expect, as I did.

Not in the worst film this year, that goes too 'The Crow', not sure if this is one that really will pull in much crowds, which is why it has such a limited showing. Had to travel a bit for this one and find good time as well, was not doing the 9pm slots that most cinemas are showing it.