Hi Berend Jan, you tip first Incroyable corn askQuentin Dupieux’s latest film. What characterizes his work?
‘The nice thing about Dupieux is that it is better not to ask questions about his films. Many things simply have no reason. Why is there in his breakthrough film Rubber a murderous car tire? And why in this latest movie is there a tunnel in the basement of a couple’s house that appears to be going down, but leads to the upstairs? Dupieux always comes up with crazy things that you as a viewer have to accept – and which the characters also accept. This sometimes creates very funny situations.
‘In Incroyable corn ask (★★★☆☆) we see a large sewage manhole cover about which the broker says during the viewing: this is a special one feature from the house, if you crawl through the well, you advance twelve hours in time and you are three days younger. Well, that makes no sense of course. In so many movies the idea of time travel is taken very seriously, this is Dupieux’s way of making fun of it.
‘At the same time, he does want to say something. How do you deal with such a tunnel that prevents you from getting older? After all, you can crawl through it endlessly. And that’s exactly what the woman does. The man, on the other hand, should have none of it. I still find that funny.
‘Of course you just have to want to go along with those crazy ideas, although Dupieux is also aware of the complete absurdity and that is why he keeps his films short. They usually last about seventy or eighty minutes. His movies are so crazy that they are fun, but also shouldn’t be too long to stay fun. He knows that people like short and catchyhe ran off with the idea of TikTok early on.”
On to your next movie tip, The Souvenir: Part II†
‘Yes, this week’s motto is that you don’t have to understand so much of the films, but above all you have to watch them. The Souvenir: Part II (★★★★☆) is the second part of a diptych by Joanna Hogg. Incomparable with Dupieux, but she too does not tell a concrete story with a head and tail.
†The Souvenir is an autobiographical work, Hogg zooms in on her childhood when she wanted to be a filmmaker. She falls for an older man who is actually a bit of a dick and turns out to have a heroin addiction. After his death, the story continues and we see how protagonist Honor Swinton Byrne – daughter of Tilda Swinton, who in The Souvenir her mother actually plays – she has to make up her own mind.
‘You can best compare this film to leafing through your own photo album. The individual photos are just fragments of events that you can color in yourself. Sometimes characters disappear, sometimes events are concealed. In fact, Hogg shows scenes from life, as life is. She masters this associative way of storytelling down to the last detail.
‘In addition, Honor Swinton Byrne portrays her character very nicely – although events and dialogues seem ‘unfinished’, as a viewer you empathize with her. What is still nice to tell: Eye film museum runs under the name ‘Previously Unreleased’ films that made a big impression at festivals. These two parts – which made distributors think, ‘Mwah, we don’t know yet if there will be an audience for it’ – are also on display. If you are a film lover, then this program is the right choice for you.’
Which movie do you want to end this week with?
‘Let me go for a while Minions: The Rise of Gruz (★★★☆☆) call. Those yellow Minions were first seen in the three parts of the animated film Despicable Me, in which they had bit parts. After the second part they already got their own movie. It’s just slapstick, but very well done.
“Besides, the Minions are evil, the villain’s sidekicks out Despicable Me† That makes it fun, even for children, to sympathize with evil a little. At the same time, the Minion films are very playful, they make you happy. Which also helps: this part is set in the seventies and is therefore full of great disco music.’