If ever a film exuded the punk rock spirit it’s this nasty piece of work from Belgium. It’s set in the Flanders punk rock scene. It’s dirty nasty offensive and very very clever. You could probably draw parallels to Trainspotting or Last Exit to Brooklyn in it’s unflinching portrayal of the seedy down and outs with little chance of escape, delighting in it’s shock tactics and a kind of subtle maliciousness that you see occurring yet somehow refuse to believe is happening. It’s also very very funny. A trio of disabled freaks approach a renowned author to drum for their band. Surprisingly Dries, a wealthy author with a beautiful girlfriend who occasionally brings her friends to bed with him, decides to hang with the freaks, his disability being that he can’ play the drums. They practice Devo’ Mongoloid ad nauseam as Dries begins to dismantle the lives of his fellow band-mates – seemingly for sport. So we’ve got the skinhead rapist strangely filmed upside down in his flat, a bass-player with an injured arm from a masturbation accident and a deaf guitarist. Surely a recipe for success. It’s very very nasty, the first film for Koen Mortier, from a book from renowned author Herman Brusselmans which seems to have a unique ability to offend everyone. This is edgy cinema, loud obnoxious and very very clever.
EXTRA FEATURES:
This is where things get odd. Aside from some music videos there’ a making of dvd. Yet this isn’ the gloss that we’re used to. The cast and crew bad mouth the director, complaining that he can’ direct, that he’ a drinker and an asshole. Meanwhile he attacks the cast. It’s almost as nasty as the film. No money. No respect, it appeared that Mortier faced an uphill battle getting this baby to screen. Absolutely compelling.
Bob Baker Fish
