The history of the musician-turned-film-director isn’t exactly a glorious one, seeing as Fred Durst is pretty much the only example that springs to mind. But we’ve got high hopes for RZA‘s directorial debut, the kung fu feature “The Man With The Golden Fist,” which is currently filming in China, and now a look at another feature from a musician has appeared, from a very different artist, which looks just as promising.
French electro-house wizard Mr. Oizo was one of the first post-Daft Punk stars of the scene, springing to fame when his track “Flat Beat” was used as the backdrop to an iconic Garth Jennings-helmed Levi’s ad. In the decade or so since, he’s carved out an illustrious career as both producer for the likes of Uffie, and as a solo artist, but his ambitions don’t stop there: the musician, known to his mum as Quentin Dupieux, directed his first full-length film, “Steak” in 2007, and unveiled his follow-up, “Rubber” at Cannes last year.
It picked up mostly strong reviews, and has been playing the festival circuit ever since. Genre label Magnet picked up the US rights, and, ahead of its VOD and theatrical release, they’ve released a trailer for the film, and it looks kind of amazing. The story follows Robert, an abandoned tire that comes to life, and discovers it has telepathic powers, leaving a swathe of destruction in its wake. Yes, an inanimate tire.
It’s a gonzo concept, and by most accounts Dupieux’s delivered on it, blending grindhouse horror with arthouse explorations of “the cinematic concept of no reason.” Certainly, the trailer looks terrific; the director seems to have a very strong visual eye, and the cast (mostly character actor veterans like Stephen Spinella and Wings Hauser) look to pull of the dry humor perfectly. If nothing else, in a sea of remakes and sequels, this looks to be something firmly different, a kind of Godard B-movie.
And even if the film somehow doesn’t appeal from this clip, the soundtrack should, to any fans of French dance music; Dupieux’s provided the score, in his Mr. Oizo guise, in collaboration with Ed Banger label mate Gaspard Augé, one half of Justice. The film hits Video On Demand on February 25th, and will then get a theatrical roll-out from April 1st — we’re sure it’ll be a midnight movie staple for years to come. Check the trailer out below (or in HD at Apple).