Rubber: Tired Of The Expected?

Rubber, an English language French film written and directed by Quentin Dupieux, is fantastic. It is also bizarre and nonsensical. It is both a comedic mockery of B grade horror and thriller films and a love letter to them. Set in an unnamed American desert, Rubber follows the terrifying antics of an insane, sentient and psychic car tyre. No, really. 

At first glance that certainly seems to be the be all and the end all of the film and it’s story, but there’s a surprising amount of depth as a simultaneous storyline plays out with an audience within the film commenting on its various oddities and shortcomings. This story line is actually the first one introduced, immediately preceded by a brilliant and bizarre speech on “no-reason”; the greatest of all film-tropes.

“No-reason” is really the ultimate pretext to the film; why does the tyre kill almost everything it comes across? No-reason. Why does the tyre wake up at the beginning of the film and why was it sleeping? No-reason. Why do I love this film? No-reas... wait, no, there are reasons actually. For one the cinematography is both technically really well executed and also interesting, easier said than done for a movie set in a desert mostly filming a non-descript rubber tyre. Secondly the performances are consistently solid and the writing and dialogue are tight, self-referential and frequently break both the fourth wall established within the film as well as the literal one between the real audience and the reality outside of the film. Beyond that the score is also excellent. Indeed, everything about the film seems to entirely outstrip the measly budget of 500,000 US dollars that produced the film, an extremely impressive feat.

Rubber has a tremendous sense of joy and reverence for its source material, a sense which transferred over into my own experience of the film. One of the best gags of the film is even included in the credits of the film, wherein they credit “Robert” as the tyre. I found myself smiling the whole way through the film, and any film that can achieve that is well worth my wholehearted recommendation. So, if you’re tired of the expected, give this film a look.

Tim