On the opening weekend of the 62nd New York Film Festival, I attended a screening of the horror comedy, “Rumours”, starring Cate Blanchett.
Synopsis
When the leaders of the G7 countries meet for a summit, will
they be able to survive attacks by mysterious beings?
Story
The leaders of the G7 countries gather for a summit in
Germany, hosted by the country’s Chancellor Hilda Orlmann (Blanchett). At the outset, their objective is to
collectively compose a document that represents a single voice of the most economically
successful countries regarding various global crises currently facing the
world. Upon their arrival, the various
heads of state are treated to a tour of the grounds by Chancellor Orlmann; one
of the more unusual locations is that of a gravesite where ancient ancestors
were laid to rest. As the tour draws to
a close, they head for dinner at a gazebo.
At nightfall, the atmosphere takes something of a spooky
turn. Some of the attendees are getting
perhaps more than a little overserved when it comes to the high-end wines that
are offered, somewhat altering their behavior.
We learn that a couple of the leaders may have had a tryst at a previous
get-together and that is negatively impacting their progress at this
meeting. When one of them takes off in a
huff, Orlmann sets out to go find him so they can return to the table and try
to get some work done. Another loses
some of the papers on which he was taking notes and when the sheets scatter
about, he tries to collect them.
When some of the other guests are attacked, it turns into something
of a mystery as to exactly who did it and why.
Eventually, they realize that they are all endangered by whoever their
attackers were, so they set out to try to find not only the other leaders, but
also to figure out who (or what) came after them. Venturing into a dark forest, it doesn’t take
long for them to get lost – but at least they are successful in finding some of
the missing G7 leaders. Getting back to
their residence, on the other hand, becomes something of a challenge,
especially when certain leaders are injured or sick. But once they learn the identity of their
attackers, will they be able to make it back alive?
Review
"Rumours" is a purported comedy – that is to say, it
is intended to satirize horror movies, especially the ones that are shown at
midnight in theaters. With that in mind,
it really isn’t terribly funny. Odd,
yes, but humorous no. In some ways, it
also intends to be something of a political satire designed to illustrate how
ineffectual the so-called world leaders are.
After all, they are having great difficulty composing a joint statement
that reflects a unified vision of the world and how best to deal with the
challenges that face each country. It
fails on this front, too – while we can see their incompetence, there aren’t
enough good jokes to support the effort.
Wherein lies the problem?
Well, for one thing, life imitates art.
Note that there are three directors on “Rumours”; just as the world
leaders in the story cannot come up with a unified vision for their meeting,
there is no unified vision for this movie because each one had their own
perspective or strength. Perhaps a
simpler way to put it is that in this case, too many cooks (directors) have
indeed spoiled the broth that is this film. When you have a single director on
a motion picture, his or her viewpoint is conveyed in the essence of the visual
storytelling. Here, however, it is as
though each director had a different story they wanted to tell.
Following the screening, there was an interview with the
three directors (Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson) and star Cate
Blanchett. According to the directors,
their process was sitting around the desk and each would contribute a
percentage of the story, which ultimately resulted in a very long script. Eventually, just about everything was thrown
out of the original draft except for the concept of the G7 meeting. They also explained that when the president
of France is injured and must be carted around in a wheelbarrow, they actually
substituted a body double because it was easier to push around.
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