Star-studded cast amplifies dark comedy about political crises and poor leadership

Canadian director trio Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson first partnered together with their 2017 experimental film, The green fog. Reuniting to present their latest film at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, the directors put together a star-studded cast for a ridiculous, surreal comedy about world leaders who encounter a global crisis while lost in the woods. As absurd as it sounds, Rumors Begins as a hilarious commentary on power on a global scale. However, as the film progresses, it loses its steam thanks to vague storytelling and less successful humor towards the end.

The intergovernmental political forum, also known as G7, consists of world leaders Hilda Ortmann (Cate Blanchett) from Germany, Edison Wolcott (Charles Dance) from the USA, Maxime Laplace (Roy Dupuis) ​​from Canada, Sylvain Broulez (Denis Ménochet) From France, Cardosa Dewindt (Nikki Amuka-Bird) from the UK, Antonio Lamorte (Rolando Ravello) from Italy, and Tatsuro Iwasaki (Takehiro Hira) from Japan. During a global crisis, they meet at their annual summit to draft a joint statement. As they begin venturing into the woods, danger emerges as they attempt to find safety, resulting in a night they will never forget.

Rumors’ political satire is heavy-handed on the humor

Rumors is a highly entertaining film that invites you to participate in the “all talk and no action” style of political leadership. Often presenting itself as a satire, Rumors Criticizes poor governance under crisis through perfectly rigorous comedy and gags that will have you laughing from the gut in the first 30 minutes. Led by a masterful comic performance from Blanchett as the German Chancellor, the reason to see this film is for the chemistry of the cast. Even when it runs out of comedic steam, the actors are ready to drive their performances home.

At one point or another, we have all felt disdain for our political leaders. It is easy to look at and judge their actions (or non-actions) as unsatisfactory. Hilariously, the writing/directing trio leans into this mindset by crafting a story that should be an easy enough task for the lead to pull off. Somehow, however, they find themselves in the woods, separated and distracted by a crazy phenomenon and a strange zombie apocalypse, all the while a global crisis is happening. rumors Bizarro script, while messy on paper, works up to a point in execution and results in a really fun time.

Rumors gets lost in its own twisted narrative

This is on top of grasping at weak explanations

Unfortunately, the last 40 minutes is a huge hurdle to overcome, as the humor dies quickly and is replaced by strange events that never get an explanation. And while going the ambiguity route might typically work for an apocalypse-type movie, it is rumors Weakest point. The tension is there, but at the end of the film, the humor begins to resemble inside jokes that we never become familiar with. Additionally, a weak AI incorporation near the end of the film feels like a last-minute attempt to cover up the fact that they may have just run out of ideas.

These weaknesses do not necessarily destroy the momentum built in the first act. True, I walked out of the feature feeling like I had the privilege of experiencing an experiment full of undead cadavers, a giant brain, and thick fog that maximized the tension of it all. With the exceptional performances of the cast and some laugh-out-loud moments, this creative film is wildly entertaining. It doesn’t say much about political leadership that we don’t already know, nor does it satisfy our need for answers. If anything, that’s what makes it Rumors A daring dark comedy – and we simply have to let the stranger in.

Rumors First premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was released in theaters on October 18. It is 103 minutes long and rated R for some sexual content/partial nudity and violent content.