Rubber (2010)

Written and Directed by Quentin Dupieux

Director Dupieux is better known as French musician Mr. Ozio, whose strange beats and unique style have made him a star on the French pop scene. Rubber is his second feature film, about a tire that comes to life, for no reason mind you, and must deal with his existence, as a killer tire would.

The entire film is an experiment, a film all propelled by "no reason" philosophy. Much like other philosophic idioms, no reason states that there is no reason to the universe, everything that happens is random. Dupieux has taken this concept and applied it to a tire. It's basically a "What if?" movie. What if a killer tire came to life? What if he had telekinetic powers? What if he used those powers to kill living beings? Should a rubber tire have morality?

I understand the motive of the director, and the philosophy at hand. What I don't understand is how he took No Reason to the extreme, pushing it beyond just being no reason for no reason, to being No reason for the audience to wonder why, which is what he reflects in the film. I think the film would've been more satisfying to the audience if he used the no reason concept to explain something, or how it affects people, beyond a tire blowing them up. I get that the metaphor is there is no metaphor, but when you're trying to entice an audience there has to be something more than a random examination of a concept. There has to be a why for people to ultimately care a lot, and No Reason does away with all whys.

Interesting concept, it's just too bad that it borders on tedium more of the time than it does interesting or provocative ideas, slowly meandering through the concept, which being No Reason, gives no reason, or requires no reason at any time. This defies film as a whole, which is reason-based for the most part, examinations of the why's and how's of the world, and I understand it was Dupieux's intention to defy these conventions, but I just don't see the end result. I watched the experiment, but the end result felt kept from me. Worth seeing at least once, that much I can say.

7.9/10 (C+)