The Reel Review
G7 leaders attending a summit at a castle in the bogs of central Germany find themselves fighting for their lives after 2000-year-old bog bodies become re-animated and go on a killing rampage. Cate Blanchett, Roy Dupuis and Alicia Vikander star in this surreal, satirical genre mashup of dark comedy, horror and melodrama.
At its core, Rumours is about incompetent world leaders more interested in making nonsensical statements than dealing with the imploding world around them. It is set to a backdrop of increasingly bizarre, surreal circumstances – there is a giant brain, chronically masturbating bog men, AI chatbots and an Enya song during a ferry boat retrieval mission. Not surprisingly, Cate Blanchett steals what little show there is as the charismatic, take-charge German Chancellor, with Roy Dupuis as the overly melodramatic, man-whore/Canadian Prime Minister.
The film from writer/directors Guy Maddin and brothers Evan and Galen Johnson uses clever, very subtle humor to expose the character flaws of their dysfunctional world leaders. The problem? The jokes are so subtle and lightweight that many will be missed or even unappreciated by most viewers. While a cute idea, Rumours is a disappointingly average, forgettable film.
REEL FACTS
• The film’s writer/directors asked Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), who plays the U.S. president, to use his natural British accent despite having a good American accent, to subvert audience expectations.
• Rumours has been named a finalist for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award, with Roy Dupuis named a finalist for Outstanding Performance in a Canadian Film.
• Rumours was mostly filmed in Hungary with some scenes shot in Winnipeg, Canada.
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