Film Review: Slack Bay Is The Napoleon Dynamite Of Horror Films
The Van Peteghem family’s leisurely rhythm of sunbathing and seaside constitutionals is soon interrupted by the arrival of two bumbling inspectors investigating a string of tourists gone missing (and serving full-on Keystone Kops). As the macabre mysteries mount and love blossoms between the family’s genderqueer teen and the son of a local fisherman, Binoche and company ratchet the slapstick up to eleven.
Slack Bay is the Napoleon Dynamite of horror films. Bruno Dumont’s cannibal comedy plays with the audience more than its characters to the glee of some goers and the chagrin of others. Like the cult classic, there are sincere laughs and a lot of moments of “What!?!”.
When Napoleon Dynamite came out, it left out audiences torn, but developed the era of “quirky films” that do not aim to make you laugh as much as smile. Dumont’s Slack Bay seems to have the same “smiling” goal with a few hearty laughs brought to you by a Cyril Rigaux’s Inspector Malfoy, who could not find himself if he went missing, and Juliette Binoche’s ridiculously dramatic Aude Van Peteghem. These two characters provide laugh out loud moments through their physicality and overly-hyped reactions to their surroundings. Slack Bay plays a lot with silence, randomness, and slow pacing to give a sort of Andy Kaufman approach to the audience; trying to push its sensibilities and definitions of humor. As I Iooked at the audience, some could not stop rolling over from giggles while others looked as if they had just entered a dentist’s office. The division gives Slack Bay an interesting experience by making it experimental; how, why, and where you laugh in Slack Bay is more telling of you than the actual movie, which makes sense as Brian Dumont’s film has social commentary between the many castes/classes of society.
Ma Loute (also the title in French) is the “lead” character who works with his father gathering mussles, carrying wealthy people over muddy waters that could destroy their expensive wear, and, occasionally, killing rich persons to feed their poor family. All in a day’s work! Ma Loute’s relationship with the Billie Van Peteghem has to be the most interesting one of the film; subtly exploring sexual and class identities with very few dialogues. In fact, the film is more based in actions, both quiet and loud ones, rather than grandiose monologues and speeches. The Peteghem family are the alternate, excessive focus of wealth and the ones with the most lines, of which are insightful in their lack of depth. For their wealth and power, they come off as incestuous buffoons that, at times, makes you wonder whether you like the “cannibal family” better. Frankly, what Dumont has achieved is a film that is not so much about good or bad or even rich and poor; it is about images of humanity versus the soul of it. Everyone in the film comes off farcical; not simply because they might do a prat fall, a weird face, or a strange noise. They come off farcical because you cannot seem to grasp who they are as persons versus who they act as personas. Hence, why Dumont’s film is more self-analytical then socially or cinematically. It is one to observe the crowd’s reaction and smile at the craziness on film. Slack Bay Opens Friday April 21 at Quad Cinema & Lincoln Center.
