By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Quentin Dupieux
Starring: Alexis Dziena | Eric Judor | Jack Plotnick | Mark Burnham | Regan Burns | Steve Little | William Fichtner
Country: united_states
Year: 2012
Running time: 94
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1901040/
Jason says: “Even those who haven’t seen Quentin Dupieux’s previous feature-length bit of absurdity RUBBER can probably guess that this is going to be a strange movie from the title alone. The playful, cheery nature of the picture may be a surprise, though; rather than the perverse nastiness, which usually prompts a declaration that something is ‘just wrong’, this is pure joyous oddity.
“Dolph Springer (Jack Plotnick) has lost his dog, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg where the strangeness in his life is concerned: His alarm goes off at 7:60, and it rains inside his office – though that’s a whole other story, as is the weird thing his gardener Victor (Eric Judor) needs to show him. At least there is some word on his dog – according to an intermediary; the mysterious Master Chang (William Fichtner) would like to speak with him about it.
“It’s a weird world that Dolph lives in, but what sets Dupieux’s strange world apart from those of other quirk-pushers is how delightfully the oddities reinforce each other, with none of them seeming like a thing that would keep something akin to regular life from functioning. Everything seems a bit out of date and off-center, and the overall effect is to have the audience feel a bit off-center themselves, but not overwhelmed.
“But then, are all our lives like Dolph’s when you get down to it? The world is confusing, authority figures are arbitrary, and nothing works quite the way you would expect. Take away something that is reassuring and dependable, and it gets that much more strange. Or maybe the existing strangeness is just thrown into much sharper relief. Either way, this feeling that the world, even if it is navigable, doesn’t quite make sense makes WRONG a movie that is completely accessible in the broad strokes but not obvious about it; the details are constantly surprising.
“That’s the sort of mandate that seems to guide star Jack Plotnick as well. He’s got the everyman vibe one expects from this sort of movie, but with the same sort of peculiarity as the rest of the characters. He’s able to go from ‘put-upon’ frustration to ‘teetering on the edge’ anger without losing the audience’s sympathy. Eric Judor and Alexis Dziena make great foils, with Judor bringing a sort of simple-minded confusion while Dziena counters with a cheerfully irrational certainty. Also funny is Steve Little as the private detective hunting down Dolph’s dog, and Mark Burnham as a cop who appears in two scenes but is so straight-facedly hilarious that I’m not surprised he’s apparently getting a spinoff feature. And then there’s William Fichtner, adding yet another peculiarly detached performance to his roster. Master Chang is weird by both Fichtner’s standard and the film’s, but the actor is able to make him memorable enough that every mention of the character while he’s off-screen conjures the guy up, even without him coming to dominate the movie.
“Everything looks and sounds nice, too – Dupieux contributes to the soundtrack under his alter ego Mr. Oizo, and it makes a nice combination with the crisp, often surreal visuals. It’s a very different feel than RUBBER, less an isolated wasteland where anything can happen without being noticed than the everyday world where anything does happen but we take it for granted.
“Whatever it is, it’s definitely funny – it’s a rare minute that passes without not only showing the audience something odd, but doing so with impeccable comic timing. It’s an obvious thing to say, but it’s true – WRONG is wrong in all the right ways. 5 cats
“Seen 21 July 2012 in Concordia University Theatre Hall (Fantasia 2012, DCP)”
Chris says: “A bizarre mixture of Miranda July (ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW) and Roy Andersson (SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR) is the best I can come up with in describing Quentin Dupieux’s uncompromisingly weird (but often delightfully so) second feature. It’s clever to a fault, each scene unlike anything preceding it and most of them teeming with easter eggs that reflect and enforce the film’s title, ranging from obvious (an office interior where it’s perpetually raining) to unexpected (the digital alarm clock where 7:59 doesn’t necessarily become 8:00) and cannily subtle (too many things to mention). On the whole, it’s a little uneven and I can’t say I always found this relentless barrage of eccentricity endearing. Thankfully, as Dolph, the central, hapless figure looking for his lost dog, Jack Plotnick makes for a model audience surrogate and William Fichtner exudes understated, mischievous glee as Dolph’s foil, the enigmatic Master Chang. A vast advance over Dupieux’s previous film RUBBER, this is a cultish piece of work for sure, but not necessarily an alienating one. 4.25 cats”
Michael says: “I found WRONG to be utterly delightful. Bizarre, surreal, silly… but also poignant. And for me, the film really hangs together on the strong direction, and the grounding performance of Jack Plotnick, as our beleaguered protagonist. I enjoyed RUBBER, the filmmaker’s previous film as well, but for me, WRONG just came together with all the required elements just beautifully, and still remained surprising and fresh. 5 cats”