Rubber (Review)
Sunday, 10th April 2011, 14:45

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There are some films that take a while to unfold so you don't know quite what they are until you are well into the first act but then there are others that reveal their true nature right from the get go, with Rubber falling firmly into the latter category. I'd seen posters about this on the Internet and read the press release which made it sound like something worth watching but I really wasn't expecting something to begin with a slight, bespectacled man checking his watch and holding dozens of binoculars. It seems as if his 'appointment' arrives when a car drives slowly towards the camera, make sure to hit every dining room that is mysteriously on this desert road before the boot opens, a man climbs out, hands his sunglasses to the driver and exchanges them for a glass of water which he holds whilst approaching you.

This man, Lieutenant Chad, addresses the camera giving several examples of things in films which happen for no reason such as ET being brown, the couple falling in love in Love Story, the president being shot in Oliver Stone's JFK, people not going to the toilet or washing their hands in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and the central character living and looking like a bum, despite being brilliant on the piano, in Roman Polanski's The Pianist. These things, he asserts, happen for no reason. He then climbs back into the car's boot which drives off, leaving a crowd of people who have been watching events looking a little bemused as they stand there holding binoculars.

Having made themselves comfortable, the audience then stares through their binoculars at the desert landscape until they notice a tyre begin to move, get up and run a bit before falling over. Having now found its feet (so to speak), the tyre then rolls over and crushes an empty water bottle that has no such luck with a glass bottle. Appearing to take stock and think about things, the tyre, credited as Robert, begins to shake and then the bottle suddenly shatters. Satisfied that it has vanquished the offending object, the tyre moves on, runs over a scorpion and, by focusing on a tin can, makes it fly away as if it had been shot. When night comes, the tyre settles down to sleep but, waking up the next day and having 'drunk' from a puddle, comes across a rabbit which meets the same fate as the glass bottle with predictably bloody effects, allowing Robert to on his way.

In between these inexplicable events, the crowd debate what Robert is doing, finally deciding that he has telekinetic abilities and they can't wait to see what he does next. It transpires that Robert isn't satisfied with killing wildlife and soon turns his new-found ability, Scanners-style on human beings leading to more exploding heads than in any film I can recall. It is not just a murderous rampage as Robert takes time out to look through an open motel door at a woman taking a shower, orders pizza, watches NASCAR and enjoys a night in a proper bed, confusing the maid when she finds tyre tracks all over the bed sheet.

During these events, the film repeatedly cuts back to the audience in some form of Brechtian distanciation so you know you are watching a film no matter how hard you try and lose yourself in the (extremely strange) events on screen. Somehow, this audience participation works as part of the narrative with the authorities involving them by firstly basically issuing binoculars and then by giving them food which, itself, proves to be a major plot point.

Rubber is a film that seems to relish in its own lunacy (and rightly so), as any film about a sentient car tyre with telekinetic abilities and an evil streak a mile wide doesn't really fit into any category that I can think of with any ease! It is almost like a live-action cartoon, particularly when Lieutenant Chad tries to convince everyone that this is all made up and when Robert decides to go for a dip in the pool, leading to a discussion amongst the audience about whether at tyre would float or sink!

This is definitely a film where you need to go with it 100% to gain any enjoyment as anything less than full commitment on the viewer's part will probably lead to complete bemusement and probably even pressing the 'Stop' button well before the end. In terms of 'Marmite' films, this is as close as you can get to a film that will divide audiences in two. I don't know what illicit substances writer-director Quentin Dupieux was taking when he came up with this premise or whether it came to him in a dream, but it is such a wonderfully leftfield and bizarre idea for a film that some people take one look at the trailer and think 'I have to see this film – it looks brilliant' where as others will probably think 'That looks terrible -- there's no way I'm giving it the time of day'.

So, where do I stand? I have to say that I loved it from the opening scene with the cop car trying to slalom around dining room chairs to the ending where... well, I won't go into that -- you'll have to see for yourself! This as one of the most original and utterly wacky ideas for a film in many a year, the effects are nicely done, both with the tyre and the mayhem it brings, and the performances are solid with Wings Hauser standing out as a recalcitrant wheelchair-bound old man who refuses to play by the rules and is very sure of his own opinions. Quentin Dupieux has created something really special which is bound to become a party movie in which like-minded individuals will gather around the flatscreen TV with some snacks and beers and cheer every exploding head, say the best lines along with the actors and the generally have a great evening.

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