Okay this is a very odd film; before I launch into my thoughts it will probably be best to watch the trailer if you are unfamiliar with this movie.

Okay, are you ready?

Yes, this film is about a psychokinetic tire that rolls around a small town killing animals and people. A pretty out-there concept for a film. But this movie is also about movies, what it means to make them, what it means to watch them, and the fusion that occurs between the people who make the movies and the people who watch the movies.

To give you an impression of what this film is like I am going to reference two other filmmakers; David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky. If you put Lynch’s Mulholland Drive at one end of the a spectrum of art house films and Jordorowsky’s The Holy Mountain at the other, Rubber is closer to The Holy Mountain than it is Mullholland Drive. The writer/director of Rubber, Quintin Dupieux, sets up this movie from the opening scene. We watch a sheriff climb out of the trunk of a car and approach a group spectators. he explains that all great films have an element of ‘no reason.’ Where things happen or take a certain form for no reason at all. He then charges the people to remember that as they watch this film. The spectators sort of act as a chorus, commenting on the action, but unlike a chorus they influence the story and they themselves are changed by it.

I am not convinced that Quintin knew exactly what he was doing or trying to say, but this film is about something and I am glad I gave it a spin. Your mileage, however, may vary depending on your tastes for European styled art house projects.