Benju (Jean Sébastien Courchesne) isn’t getting on too well with his girlfriend Angie (Sophie Desmarais) – which is to say, after she tried to lead a coup at the right-wing shock-jock radio station she worked at, she got fired, and Benju and Angie broke up. But one night he rocks up at her apartment with a big announcement: in an effort to impress her, he just broke into the home of the daughter of the company’s president, and ended up kidnapped, trapped, and beaten up. But he’s convinced he’s found out something ominous – that the station’s airwaves are being used to transmit menacing mind-control frequencies across Quebec.
Shot in black and white by director Alexandre Leblanc over several years, this Quebecois slacker comedy takes its cues from the low-budget indie scene of the early 90s, loosely bringing to mind such films as Clerks and Go Fish. Its meandering plot, general stoner vibe and very specific comedic wavelength won’t be for everyone. But if you want to see a bunch of losers trying to take down the man, and maybe a lengthy low-stakes kung-fu fight under an highway overpass, this might be the movie for you.
Les Pas D’Allure played at the Fantasia International Film Festival on 16th July.
Whitlock&Pope 