Rubber

And so, for the second time in as many days, I have to try and review a movie without saying too much about it. With yesterdays Pin it was because I didn't want to spoil it, with Rubber, it's because the movie almost defies explanation. 

The plot (such as it is) is simple enough; a discarded car tyre comes to life, realises it has telekinetic powers, and goes on a killing spree (!) but it's presentation is like nothing I've ever experienced in film or TV. 

While some of the ideas present are pure Monty Python, the execution is more Salvatore Dali; the humour is there, the movie's tongue is at times firmly in its cheek, but at the same time very little is played for laughs; it's almost a kind of 'straight surrealism'; with film and TV the word 'surreal' is almost always followed by the word 'comedy'; the only exception I can think of is Eraserhead, which is incredibly bleak, but Rubber isn't that either.  It isn't surreal to be funny, it isn't surreal to be scary, it's surrealism as it's own reward - and, for me at least, it pulls it off magnificently!

As well as the aforementioned Tyre plot (according to the trailer and credits by the way, it's name is Robert), there's also a bunch of people out in the desert watching Robert's story unfold via binoculars as though it were a movie. There's also the police tracking the killer (they, oddly, don't initially suspect a tyre) and several of the characters seem to be existing on different levels of reality to one another (that'll make sense when you see it). 

The opening is inspired; a car carefully swerves along a desert road in order to destroy a bunch of wooden chairs that have been scattered around, then a police officer climbs out of the boot, passes his sunglasses to the driver (who swaps them for a glass of water) and then proceeds to deliver a monologue about how every great film contains an element of 'no reason' (why is ET brown?, why does no one go to the bathroom in Texas Chainsaw?, why does some random stranger shoot the president in Stone's JFK?) which of course, sets up Rubber nicely.

Disappointingly, Robert never actually runs anyone over; after learning to roll he squishes a plastic bottle, an insect, and a scorpion, before encountering a glass bottle that will not break under his weight - after that, he only destroys things via his newly discovered telekinesis, which is a shame, because seeing him run over a human being would have been hilarious. 

It isn't flawless, it drags just a little in the middle (apart from a flashback scene, which is inspired) but it's mostly very enjoyable, and if you find any fun in randomness, you'll love it. 

With the movie industry obsessed with sequels and remakes, it's great to see something, anything, original; and Rubber certainly is that, even if the writer was tripping balls!