Rubber

There are some films that take a while to unfold so you don't know quite what they are until you are well into the first act but then there are others that reveal their true nature right from the get go, with Rubber falling firmly into the latter category. I'd seen posters about this on the Internet and read the press release which made it sound like something worth watching but I really wasn't expecting something to begin with a slight, bespectacled man checking his watch and holding dozens of binoculars. It seems as if his 'appointment' arrives when a car drives slowly towards the camera, make sure to hit every dining room that is mysteriously on this desert road before the boot opens, a man climbs out, hands his sunglasses to the driver and exchanges them for a glass of water which he holds whilst approaching you.

This man, Lieutenant Chad, addresses the camera giving several examples of things in films which happen for no reason such as ET being brown, the couple falling in love in Love Story, the president being shot in Oliver Stone's JFK, people not going to the toilet or washing their hands in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and the central character living and looking like a bum, despite being brilliant on the piano, in Roman Polanski's The Pianist. These things, he asserts, happen for no reason. He then climbs back into the car's boot which drives off, leaving a crowd of people who have been watching events looking a little bemused as they stand there holding binoculars.

Having made themselves comfortable, the audience then stares through their binoculars at the desert landscape until they notice a tyre begin to move, get up and run a bit before falling over. Having now found its feet (so to speak), the tyre then rolls over and crushes an empty water bottle that has no such luck with a glass bottle. Appearing to take stock and think about things, the tyre, credited as Robert, begins to shake and then the bottle suddenly shatters. Satisfied that it has vanquished the offending object, the tyre moves on, runs over a scorpion and, by focusing on a tin can, makes it fly away as if it had been shot. When night comes, the tyre settles down to sleep but, waking up the next day and having 'drunk' from a puddle, comes across a rabbit which meets the same fate as the glass bottle with predictably bloody effects, allowing Robert to on his way.

In between these inexplicable events, the crowd debate what Robert is doing, finally deciding that he has telekinetic abilities and they can't wait to see what he does next. It transpires that Robert isn't satisfied with killing wildlife and soon turns his new-found ability, Scanners-style on human beings leading to more exploding heads than in any film I can recall. It is not just a murderous rampage as Robert takes time out to look through an open motel door at a woman taking a shower, orders pizza, watches NASCAR and enjoys a night in a proper bed, confusing the maid when she finds tyre tracks all over the bed sheet.


During these events, the film repeatedly cuts back to the audience in some form of Brechtian distanciation so you know you are watching a film no matter how hard you try and lose yourself in the (extremely strange) events on screen. Somehow, this audience participation works as part of the narrative with the authorities involving them by firstly basically issuing binoculars and then by giving them food which, itself, proves to be a major plot point.

Rubber is a film that seems to relish in its own lunacy (and rightly so), as any film about a sentient car tyre with telekinetic abilities and an evil streak a mile wide doesn't really fit into any category that I can think of with any ease! It is almost like a live-action cartoon, particularly when Lieutenant Chad tries to convince everyone that this is all made up and when Robert decides to go for a dip in the pool, leading to a discussion amongst the audience about whether at tyre would float or sink!


This is definitely a film where you need to go with it 100% to gain any enjoyment as anything less than full commitment on the viewer's part will probably lead to complete bemusement and probably even pressing the 'Stop' button well before the end. In terms of 'Marmite' films, this is as close as you can get to a film that will divide audiences in two. I don't know what illicit substances writer-director Quentin Dupieux was taking when he came up with this premise or whether it came to him in a dream, but it is such a wonderfully leftfield and bizarre idea for a film that some people take one look at the trailer and think 'I have to see this film - it looks brilliant' where as others will probably think 'That looks terrible -- there's no way I'm giving it the time of day'.

So, where do I stand? I have to say that I loved it from the opening scene with the cop car trying to slalom around dining room chairs to the ending where... well, I won't go into that -- you'll have to see for yourself! This as one of the most original and utterly wacky ideas for a film in many a year, the effects are nicely done, both with the tyre and the mayhem it brings, and the performances are solid with Wings Hauser standing out as a recalcitrant wheelchair-bound old man who refuses to play by the rules and is very sure of his own opinions. Quentin Dupieux has created something really special which is bound to become a party movie in which like-minded individuals will gather around the flatscreen TV with some snacks and beers and cheer every exploding head, say the best lines along with the actors and the generally have a great evening.

The Disc

Extra Features
Under the heading 'extra features', you have Interviews, Teaser Test and Trailer with the option to Play All.

Under the Interviews heading are the people's names so you can choose which one you want to see.

The first, with Quentin Dupieux (8:33, HD). shows the director being interviewed on set by a blow up doll wearing jeans and a check shirt, with the interview conducted entirely in French. It is one of the most strangely fitting extra features I've ever seen!

Next up is an interview with Stephen Spinella (4:07, HD), who plays Lieutenant Chad, who is interviewed in a much more conventional manner and speaks about his role in the film and what it was like working on the film.

This is followed by an extremely effusive interview with Jack Plotnick (6:42, HD) it is extremely complementary about Quentin Dupieux, the cast and crew and the shoot itself, but less so about the way turkeys smell!

The final interview subject is Roxane Mesquida (3:28, HD), who has a fairly small role in the film but one that is important nonetheless. She is also very complimentary about every aspect of the filmmaking process and is far more French than she sounds in the film!.

Teaser Test (0:47, HD) was referred to fleetingly by Stephen Spinella as he was very sceptical about the camera Quentin Dupieux intended to use until the director showed him the short film of a tyre rolling around. It is just footage of the tyre moving within really quirky score but is excellent quality and is the sort of thing that would either get you interested or turn you off completely.

Trailer (1:29, HD) contains just about everything there is to see in the film: a sentiment tyre, exploding animals, exploding heads, a woman leaving the swimming pool and walking past the tyre and a mannequin trying to goad the tyre into blowing it up!


The Picture
The AVC 1080p HD picture is beautifully clear with superb definition, colours and contrast levels. It isn't the most visually demanding of films, but the close-ups reveal every hair, skin blemish and line on people's faces and the same goes for the tyre, where you can see every bit of detail in the rubber and the tread. I've had my reservations about film shot entirely digitally in the past with some looking absolutely superb and is looking absolutely dire, but this is one of the former and it probably helps that Quentin Dupieux is the director, cinematographer and editor so he knows exactly what shots he wants and how the film should look at the end, both theatrically and for the home cinema market.

When it comes to the SFX shots of animals or people's heads exploding, things have clearly moved on since Dawn of the Dead so it isn't a case of stuffing a fake head with fake blood, corn chips and all manner of things to give the filling some substance as we are now in a digital world and these things can be done simply and cheaply, but also with the same impact.


The Sound
You have the choice of DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or LPCM 2.0 stereo, both English, soundtracks and I first went with the 5.1 surround option but then flicked to the uncompressed stereo option and, after a while, back again. For the majority of the film, there isn't a great deal of difference between the two but, when there is an explosion, some gunfire or other more demanding aural aspects, the DTS-HD Master Audio track wins hands down.

The sound design is really impressive as it gives Robert a character and, with the score by Gaspard Augé and Quentin Dupieux, manages to make the tyre convey emotion and give you a sense of what he's feeling and thinking without any speech or a way of physically showing emotion as the silent comics and even characters like Gromit, Aardman's brilliant Plasticine dog, are able to do with their faces.


Final Thoughts
Rubber is one of those 'like it or loathe it' with a great deal of irony, bizarre humour and strange horror. I thought it was a brilliantly imaginative and brilliantly watchable film but, for every person with an opinion like that, there will be someone else who considers it one of the worst films ever made. My best advice is to look at the trailer and, if that appeals to you, give this film a look.

There may not be the widest selection of extra features, but they are quite interesting and informative and the AV quality is superb. If you feel like a blind buy, then this is a disc you will watch repeatedly but, if you're not in the habit of buying something you haven't seen, put this at the top of your rental queue or go into Blockbuster on Monday and rent this.