CUB – Eccentric and winning take on backwoods horror from Belgium. For a start, it's about a scout troupe. How many horror flicks are based on scout troupes? This may be 'Cub's only real first, but it's still quite a feat, particularly as the woggle coveters are portrayed in a refreshingly unsentimental light – as little fascists, or as being strange and possibly murderous. Speaking of which, 'Cub' follows one such runt (actually he's a bit more sympathetic than that, at least until the end) and explores the odd connection he has with a seemingly feral, mask wearing child from deep in the woods. The feral kid is apparently quite vicious, and we're given to ponder whether he's a projection of scout-kid's psyche, or whether there's something supernatural slash folkloric going on, or whether he's just an evil, f*cked up feral dude or what... the resolution of this mystery might be a little underwhelming, but it paves the way for a nastily nihilistic sucker punch of an ending and answers some other questions such as - “why is this Belgian forest full of elaborate traps and contraptions?” and also “in which film do I get to see a maniac use a massive truck to run over an entire scout troupe gathered cringing under a single tent?” Yes, that latter scene does exist and must count as one of the most baffling 'what just happened' moments in my recent viewing history, although equally bizarrely it seems to play entirely naturally in the context of the film. Despite all this argy bargy at the climax, 'Cub' is for the most part much more subtle, has a sly humour but never at the expense of an essentially quite dark mood. See it? Sure, go ahead!
TUSK – When I've sat down with Kevin Smith films in the past, it's been like staying a bit too long in the company of a brilliant but exasperating young person who annoys by being 1) much cleverer and hipper than me, but ultimately also by being 2) actually, objectively annoying anyway. I think stuff like 'Clerk's is great on a cinema level or whatever, but I can't get through that kind of thing without wincing deep down. That said, I really liked 'Red State', which was quite a departure for Smith but still felt like one of his. The same goes for 'Tusk'. It's basically about a hip young podcaster who might be brilliant in some way but is certainly exasperating. He travels to Canada to do an interview, but ends up waylaid by some ancient guy who regales him with tales of meeting Earnest Hemmingway etc etc. This ancient guy then imprisons annoying hipster podcaster and basically turns him into a walrus. Why? I don't know, maybe he has issues or something. Podcaster's girlfriend and his podcaster buddy team up with a comedy French Canadian ex detective and track his sorry fate. It's interesting to see Smith combine his off-hand wordy indieness with such surrealism, but also with much more standard B movie territory. There's something austere and freaky about the build up, but when I was watching the transformation scenes I thought less of Cronenberg or 'Human Centipede' and more of something like a Charles Band film. Horror stylistics may or may not be Smith's thing, but there's no doubting the eerie power of much of the content here, or rather, the impact it has by sometimes managing to be both hilarious and affecting... I think this is summed up by the end scene, where podcaster's now ex gf visits him in his new home, a really bleak, dilapidated animal sanctuary. The just-deserts angle is mocking, self referential and tongue in cheek, but it's also weirdly troubling. Anyway, 'Tusk' is great, I know his latter stuff is miles away from 'Chasing Amy' et al, but frankly I wish he just made films like this all the time.
 |