A Constant Visual Feast

So far, the pithiest summation I’ve devised for Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson’s new film, Rumours, is “like watching Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe co-direct an Armando Iannucci film with Albert Birney.” If these names are obscure, may I encourage you to look them up? Assuming weirdness in the ballpark of “surreal” and “not quite surreal, but definitely at the outer edges of real life” is palatable to you, you may like some of their movies, like Greener Grass (DeBoer and Luebbe) and Strawberry Mansion (Birney).

Iannucci is easily the most recognizable name of the bunch (see: In the Loop, Veep, The Death of Stalin). Saturday Night Live is even more recognizable than that, but I’m not sure that the “masturbating zombies” skit is at the top of anyone’s “favorite SNL skits” list, which is only “too bad” in this context because it plays well into Rumours.

Rumours isn’t exactly a film with broad appeal, but it does have a broadly appealing cast, and 2024 is short on political satire; Rumours is easily the most significant movie made this year in that ballpark, and for that matter should be recognized as one of the most significant movies made in the last few years in that ballpark. You can read all about it, from me, over at The Daily Beast.