Deft ‘Rumours’ hilariously melds horror and politics
Exposing politicians as the incompetent blowhards that many are is hardly newsbreaking. It pretty much goes with the territory. But the sly, highly amusing “Rumours” does it with such glee and imagination you’d swear you’re witnessing it for the first time.
Ironic since its melding of satire, horror and soap opera has no business working this well. Its chief asset is an endearing knack for mocking itself as much as it does the “leaders” of the free world, including a Bidenesque POTUS who is old, hobbled and prone to impromptu naps. There’s also a submissive French president, a stoic Japanese PM and a hunky Canadian prime minister a la Justin Trudeau.
They, along with the heads of state from Great Britain and Italy, have gathered for the annual G7 summit hosted by German Chancellor Hilda Ortmann in the picturesque alpine village of Dankerode. But this isn’t just any G7. This one is unfolding amid an unnamed international “crisis” that demands the septet draft a provisional statement expressing their concerns without offering anything close to a solution. But in their myopic minds, this is what the “people” want.
Hilariously, they break up into three groups to brainstorm, with the most well-defined idea being to erect a grand monument in the shape of a sundial. Then, suddenly, their assemblage inside an open-air gazebo is interrupted by eerie noises emanating from just beyond the clearing. They’d send their flunkies to investigate, but they soon realize that no one is left but them and whatever lurks in the dark, fog-shrouded forest.
In other words, it’s the perfect setup for the oldest of horror tropes: seven people alone in the woods with nothing but their wits to rely on for survival. The script by co-director Evan Johnson has a blast poking fun amidst the expected frights as the politicians are threatened not just by menacing creatures but also by their ineptitude when left to their own devices.
By stripping away all the difference and decorum these folks are accustomed to, Johnson and his fellow directors – brother Galen Johnson and Canadian legend Guy Maddin – drolly reveal these alphas to be as helpless and confused as anyone else in their situation. Accordingly, their foibles, disappointments and heartbreaks are the same as ours. It’s a pretty neat display pulled off by filmmakers determined to normalize this self-important coterie without letting any of them off the hook for their incompetence.
Abetting them is a fabulous cast topped by Oscar-winners Cate Blanchett as Hilda and Alicia Vikander as Celestine Sproul, the president of the European Commission who pops up midway. Both admirably relinquish their leading-lady status to blend into an ensemble of lesser-known actors such as Roy Dupuis as Canadian PM Maxime Laplace; Denis Ménochet as French President Sylvain Broulez; Nikki Amuka-Bird as British PM Cardosa Dewindt; Rolando Ravello as Italian PM Antonio Lamorie; and Takehiro Hira as Japanese PM Tatsuro Iwasaki.
The grand-daddy of them all is British legend Charles Dance as U.S. President Edison Wolcott, whose British accent is called into question by a member of the body. But before he can answer, he’s cut off by yet another petty calamity among the ranks. All eight actors are first-rate as they navigate the script’s smooth transitions from chiller to comedy to melodrama, particularly on the part of Dupuis’ Maxime, whose sexual dalliances – past and present – with the summit’s three female members are a great source of laughs. He also doubles as the quasi-hero of the piece, apropos given he’s the Canadian PM in a Canadian production.
Still, he’s targeted for ridicule as much as the others. But the butt of almost every joke is Ménochet’s Sylvain, who is also afforded the privilege of conveying the film’s mission statement with his observation that each of the seven allegorically represents the reputations of their respective nations. In his case, weakened and soon to be spineless, as a mysterious malady is causing his bones to rapidly deteriorate.
The sight of him initially being carried in the arms of Maxime, and later sprawled out in a wheelbarrow, is among the film’s cleverest visual gags. Well, besides the giant disembodied brain glistening pink in the dark, or the image of “brilliant minds” stumbling around in the murky woods. A better representation of modern politics I cannot envision – except for the running joke about elected officials being prone to indulging in unsavory acts.
Ah, leave it to the Canadians to openly express what most of us think. And it’s that refusal to bow to political correctness that makes “Rumours” so refreshing in its zeal to unveil these clowns for exactly what they are – human.
Movie review
Rumours
Rated: R for partial nudity, violent content and some sexual content
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Charles Dance, Roy Dupuis, Denis Mënochet, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rolando Ravello, Takehiro Hira and Alicia Vikander
Director: Guy Madden and Evan and Galen Johnson
Writers: Evan Johnson
Runtime: 103 minutes
Where: In theaters Oct. 18
Grade: B
