Bye Bye Monkey

'Why?!' indeed: baffling, pretentiously arty film which beggars belief at times, but remains surprisingly watchable thanks to generally accomplished direction and performers who turn in decent performances given the circumstances. As a narrative film, it is a hopeless muddle but as an atmospheric meditation... it sort of succeeds. Worthwhile for the curious.

Loved it.

A stencil on Depardieu's wall asks "Why?!" and that's a good question. Although composed of several interesting elements it doesn't gel into any cohesive whole. The best I can do at putting it together is to say it's an absurdist treatise on the decline of civilization, but not all the pieces seem to fit. It's an exercise in non-sequitur, and that's not a form I enjoy very much unless it's done very light-heartedly. There are amusing moments but the overall tempo is too sluggish. A near miss.

Really, really weird, in a "what the hell were they thinking?" sort of way. Bits of this movie are laugh-inducingly ridiculous but most of the time you just wonder what the filmmakers want from you.