MUBI

This is a difficult film to watch. It is initially concerned with the frustration and apathy inherent in the mundane rigmarole of modern western society. To escape from their boring lives the characters cloak themselves in assimilations of the disabled, exemplified by the episodes of ‘spazzing’. These episodes are very graphic and intentionally confrontational; permeted by close ups of exposed genitalia and foul mouthed language. Subsequently they work to raise a lot of questions about the presentation of the disabled, in film, and can be seen as a critical indictment of a culture that overtly patronises the less abled by forcing the auditor to enter a world with few boundaries, a location where they must re-evaluate their own definitions of what is offensive or derogatory. Its adherence to the manifesto of Dogme 95 can be noted in its documentary style diegesis and this provides a sort of cinematic verisimlitude akin to the home movie or the intrusive gaze of the voyeur, that has come to represent director’s willingness to depart from the standard aesthetic fare of cinema’s mainstreams. It would make for an interesting compare/contrast with Harmony Korine’s ‘Gummo’ or ‘Julien Donkey Boy’, when we consider representations of mental and physical disability and also the films aesthetic inventiveness.

A provocative film that is at points genuinely funny and original. However, there are also moments in the film where I found myself endorsing the backlash of ‘mainstream’ charcaters against the eccentrics and perhaps this is where the genius of this film lies. It is hard to judge the true motivations of many of the characters as they seem to covet the disdain of normal society as much as they wish to escape it. Much like the Dogme movement itself.

You should see
Julien Donkey Boy
Gummo

both by Harmony Korine