“In California, an audience watches a tire through binoculars. The tire is named Robert and has come to life. The tire eventually starts going on a killing spree”.
This simple plot synopsis given to the “French” film titled Rubber, sums it all up. (I put French in quotations cause I’m really not sure why the fact that this film is French needed to be mentioned, considering Rubber was set and filmed in California and contains no French speaking characters, although the leading lady seemed to be French so that must be it. But that really doesn’t make any sense either...)
I’ll be the first to say that Rubber ran out of tread quickly resulting in a nap and a drool at about the 45 minute mark.
To be fair I was pretty tired.
Despite my timeout, or maybe because of it, I quite enjoyed this work of art. While 85 minutes is a stretch for any movie where the trailer is just about as satisfying as the film itself, I’m sure that Quentin Dupieux was only leaving room for the crowd to simmer down between witty retorts and the possible hurling of old rubber tire treads at the screen. I’d have to bet that actually viewing the movie through binoculars would be hard on the eyes for the entire show, so he wanted to break it up.
When you set out to make a "cult film", and I’m not saying those were his intentions, although it’s a hard point to argue against, you run the risk of being utterly boring and alienating your audience, which he indeed succeeded at gracefully. Rubber, however boring I found it for 5-10 minutes was actually very fun, clever, and dare I say, refreshing. I had to smile, however slightly, at the way it thumbed its nose at Hollywood and fanboys/critics alike.
This movie isn’t for everyone. In fact, it’s not for most. But if you get a kick out of the thought of a pitch meeting starting “ It’s about a tire who uses his telekinetic powers to explode things, like human heads”... well, now I’m just preaching to the choir.
*Any movie can really be a "Cult Film" but 7 times out of 10 they are pretty bad movies that have a very specific audience base for one reason or another. Usually, the films depicts some kind of sub-culture or contain some kind of seemingly taboo element. It also needs to have some pretty memorable lines or characters and needs to fall under the radar of mainstream movies...although several big name/budget directors could be looked at as having a cult following, like The Coen Brothers.
Cult Film Examples.
Troll 2
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Reefer Madness
This is Spinal Tap
Re-Animator
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
The Toxic Avenger (My favorite)
UHF
Donnie Darko
Kung Fu movies
Any horror movie
Anything Directed by: David Lynch, John Waters, or Ed Wood
*Any movie can really be a "Cult Film" but 7 times out of 10 they are pretty bad movies that have a very specific audience base for one reason or another. Usually, the films depicts some kind of sub-culture or contain some kind of seemingly taboo element. It also needs to have some pretty memorable lines or characters and needs to fall under the radar of mainstream movies...although several big name/budget directors could be looked at as having a cult following, like The Coen Brothers.
Cult Film Examples.
Troll 2
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Reefer Madness
This is Spinal Tap
Re-Animator
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
The Toxic Avenger (My favorite)
UHF
Donnie Darko
Kung Fu movies
Any horror movie
Anything Directed by: David Lynch, John Waters, or Ed Wood
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