Réalité

Another bizarre journey by Dupieux.

This film feels like the plot follows a drawing of a family tree, which then starts to repeat itself, getting tangled in it's own branches & roots after a while, not knowing where it starts or ends or who is where they are supposed to be. I doubt untangling the newly sprouted plot lines would have any benefit, but it is a return to form for Dupieux. The production was crisp & the style unique. I wish the Wareheim cameo was limited just to the original army jeep scene.

"It is indeed an eczema attack, but on the inside, on the inside of your head."

That was such a weird and enjoyable movie. You can absolutely call it borderline nonsensical, with its reality-bending scenes, but I was hooked from the beginning. It’s like a comedic parody of an artsy film that doesn’t know it’s supposed to be a parody. I can see why you would dislike it, it can come across as “look how smart I am with my surreal humour” but it didn’t bother me at all.

I guess Dupieux is getting incrementally better (i mean there's always just enough potential in his stuff that i keep watching), even though this is still pretty dumb. But at least he's learning to tone things down a little bit, even if he's still just doing self-consciously pointless "random" surrealism. It's like he's trying to be Kaufman or Gondry but completely misses the point of what they're about, and there isn't really anything aesthetically interesting to justify it. He's no Raoul Ruiz.

"Reality! Don't touch that, it's disgusting."

Dupieux takes on the whole idea of Real and, somewhat predictably, gets lost in a babuschka of eXistenZial dreams that never really pay off. But it's a fun ride there nonetheless.