Now that’s more like it!

You might recall that two days ago I blogged about my first dose of The Toronto After Dark Film Festival, and how I was a bit saddened that the audience wasn’t really impressed enough to pull me through and make the night more fun. Well last night was the complete antithesis to CENTURION. Last night was a wickedly original and truly fun movie. Last night the crowd didn’t need to pull me through, since we were all having a blast equally.

Last night…..was RUBBER.

RUBBER is about a radial tire that one day becomes cognitive and pulls himself up out of the dirt he’s been tossed into on the side of an abandoned desert road. Like a newborn fawn, it takes him a few tries to get the hang of keeping himself upright and rolling in a straight line. Once he gets the hang of that, he discovers that when he rolls over certain things – bugs, plastic bottles – they get destroyed.

But when he finds more solid items – glass bottles, tin cans – he realizes he can’t destroy them. That’s alright though, because the tire figures out he has psychokinetic powers…and can blow them up. This also seems to come in handy on animals, birds, and indeed – humans.

That’s right gang – RUBBER is about a killer tire.

You’d think that would get old over the course of 85 minutes the concept would get old, but thankfully the film isn’t only about the killer tire. The film, directed by Quentin Dupieux, has framed itself nicely in a rather self-aware way that I dare not spoil, since it’s best enjoyed cold. Suffice it to say that the film realizes how absurd the premise is, and has constructed itself in a way that builds on its own absurdity.

As I mentioned, the crowd had a blast…you could almost hear the smile widening across everyone’s faces as the tire would ominously roll into the background of a shot. Likewise, the joint was cracking up when some of truly great deadpan humour hit their mark perfectly.

I feel bad that I only got two small doses of The After Dark festival this year, but such things happen sometimes. After the fun I had watching rubber though – next year I promise you I’m all in.