Microbudget Films: Silence, ca tue!
This installment of Microbudget Films comes all the way from Belgium, home to a great American hero: Jean Claude Van Damme. I would like to preface this entire article with this quip from the guru himself: “You don’t need a flash to photograph a rabbit that already has red eyes.” You have to really give it to random nonsense from roundhousing Belgian martial artists,because, in this one statement he captures the truly anarchic spirit of this week’s focus:
Through it’s use of the mockumentary style, Silence, ca tue! uses the subtleties of human behavior to give life to it’s odd, hypereuropean cast. In my time reviewing movies, this is one of the most solid scripts I have ever encountered, it’s also a brilliant display of an understanding of the way documentaries work in telling their stories. A silent sort of narrative unfolds itself in a way that seems completely organic as the film careens through it’s brief 65 minutes.
It is comparable to something like Man Bites Dog, except filmed as an MTV True Life episode. Speaking of the technical side of things, this film shines in every aspect. No line is muffled by white noise, and no shot is marred by poor lighting, everything is completely polished to the bone. The editing, too, is tight as hell, and I truly appreciate the decision to make the movie as short as it is.
Silence, ca tue! is a sort of character study, where every actor completely inhabits a character, providing depth through delivery and mannerisms. The conflicting personalities allow for infinite interpretation of the meaning of the story told.
The one place that I feel Silence truly suffers is in it’s gore effects. For being mockumentary it seems like the only part that didn’t feel real was the gore. The blood has a purplish hue, and body parts float on water, and, as a whole I do think that more of a starkly realistic view of the violence would have been more appropriate. It will sometimes zip you right out of the experience and into that “oh, that’s fake” mindset for a little while.
Thankfully, though, Silence is not dependant upon the gore to keep the story moving, it is dependent upon the story to keep the story going.
I truly enjoyed myself.
Coming Soon (hopefully) an interview with Christophe Lamot, director of Silence.
I agree with this review. The script was indeed very tight. I thought it was really quick paced and entertaining.
Did you ever get an interview with the director? I’d be very interested to read it.