5 out of 5

Director: Quentin Dupieux

Holy Christmas… what can you say about this film? Its about a killer tire? Sure. Its some metaish film-within-a-film thing? Sure. Quentin Dupieuxs Rubber treads a very, very fine line between being too cool for its britches and being one of the most insanely awesome things Ive seen in a long time. Every moment that it threatens to go into too-cool town, it stops and reflects upon itself, even pointing out its own inadequacies to the viewer or perhaps drawing attention to the ridiculousness… All without really breaking the 4th wall… The camera is balanced wonderfully throughout the work, and the combination with the score, again, stays at the perfect threshold between too-aware (as Wes Anderson is guilty of forever) and just visually great. The colors work to this effect also, using focus and select filters to really set moods. Even at the end, when I was expecting – as the film sets you up for – a letdown, things are carried on in just the right way to make it wonderful, including the last pan down of the camera. This was hard to pull off. It will be hard to follow, and hopefully Dupieux wont try, letting this gem stand in its own territory of film. Might be slow for some, and the randomness might just seem stupid for others. Lots of head explosions… but the gore shouldnt really be a deterrent, because though in your face, it has a darkly comical feel. Some indie fans will just support it cause its weird, and an equal amount will probably spit on it for the same reason. Either way, give it a go to at least say youve seen it.