Quentin Dupieux’s prior excursion into deadpan illogic and intermittent surrealism, “Rubber,” followed the exploits of a killer tire. “Wrong” is weird, too, in brightly colored, handmade, shambling fashion. A shaggy lost-dog tale, the exceptionally flat “Wrong” doesn’t create its own alternative world, as “Rubber” did in sometimes-explosive fashion (as in exploding heads), but instead slows, elongates and randomizes daily life as not worth living in a meaningless suburban world. Meaninglessness is a dangerous subject to caress, and reaching toward a no-budget Charlie Kaufman world with a loser protagonist (Jack Plotnick) looking for a lost dog in a world rife with random events is also a dodgy dance. Dupieux is a French musician, writer, cinematographer, editor and director, if not quite a maker of American comedy. With the ineffable William Fichtner as the threatening Zen adept “Master Chang,” who susses Dupieux’s comic conundrum early on: “Man gets inured to things rapidly.” The advanced likes of Buñuel would have stepped off for a martini even more rapidly. In English, perhaps translated from French or other languages. “Wrong”‘s international roster of producers includes agnes b., a longtime supporter of Harmony Korine, including co-producing “Spring Breakers.” With Eric Judor, Alexis Dziena, Steve Little. 94m. (Ray Pride)
“Wrong” is now playing at Facets. A trailer and two clips, below, offer a taste of Dupieux’s taste.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s film critic and a contributing editor to Filmmaker magazine.
His multimedia history of Chicago “Ghost Signs” will be published soon. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram as Ghost Signs Chicago. More photography on Instagram.
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Quentin Dupieux’s prior excursion into deadpan illogic and intermittent surrealism, “Rubber,” followed the exploits of a killer tire. “Wrong” is weird, too, in brightly colored, handmade, shambling fashion. A shaggy lost-dog tale, the exceptionally flat “Wrong” doesn’t create its own alternative world, as “Rubber” did in sometimes-explosive fashion (as in exploding heads), but instead slows, elongates and randomizes daily life as not worth living in a meaningless suburban world. Meaninglessness is a dangerous subject to caress, and reaching toward a no-budget Charlie Kaufman world with a loser protagonist (Jack Plotnick) looking for a lost dog in a world rife with random events is also a dodgy dance. Dupieux is a French musician, writer, cinematographer, editor and director, if not quite a maker of American comedy. With the ineffable William Fichtner as the threatening Zen adept “Master Chang,” who susses Dupieux’s comic conundrum early on: “Man gets inured to things rapidly.” The advanced likes of Buñuel would have stepped off for a martini even more rapidly. In English, perhaps translated from French or other languages. “Wrong”‘s international roster of producers includes agnes b., a longtime supporter of Harmony Korine, including co-producing “Spring Breakers.” With Eric Judor, Alexis Dziena, Steve Little. 94m. (Ray Pride)
