Au poste!

There are plenty of filmmakers who ply their trade in the weird and surreal, but nobody does it to quite the extent, with as much of a personal style, as Quentin Dupieux. No one else but his collaborators have the same sensibilities of wry, dry, somewhat dark, oddball humor. Even more to the point, I'm hard-pressed to name anyone else who likes to play so cheerfully with boundaries of "reality" within their features, discarding any specific notion of a concrete universe or setting and allowing lines to blur between far-flung perspectives just for the heck of it so they can all bleed together. At that, 'Keep an eye out' - or 'Au poste!' as the French title would have it - is relatively grounded and ordinary as far as Dupieux's oeuvre goes; it's only rather gradually that the wilder side of the storytelling creeps in, and this otherwise deigns to pretend it's a straightforward crime drama. But even at its most "ordinary" the movie is still joyfully offbeat as a common narrative scenario (police interrogating a suspect), and mundane nothings (the interviewee's described activities) are drawn out, focused upon, and woven together. Though it may not be as immediately and outwardly grabbing as some of his other works, make no mistake that when all is said and done there's no questioning that this is kith and kin with all that the man does, and I could scarcely be more delighted.

As Dupieux again assumes control over most aspects of the production - writer, director, photographer, and editor - he can shape the resulting film to his will and vision; maybe this helps to explain why everything in his body of work has such a unified feel about it. Here the method is comparatively restrained as we're chiefly greeted with a visual presentation that is gleaned directly from earnest fare of the 70s: hair, makeup, costume design, sets, music, and not least the warm hues of the image and the softness of the cinematography. Only very smoothly and casually are the idiosyncratic tendencies we know and love teased out in the storytelling, while the cast plays it straight all the while, and as they are one can't help but be enchanted. It's not that 'Keep an eye out' is as dazzlingly creative or captures the imagination as completely as, say, 'Rubber,' 'Deerskin,' 'Smoking causes coughing,' or 'Réalité,' but in its more gently underhanded tack this title nevertheless revels just as much in the same frivolities and frivolousness. One might reasonably argue that since this is less plainly peculiar, it could even be a fair point of entry to Dupieux for those who don't want to dive headfirst into his twisted mind. No matter how you slice it, however, this remains another superb, highly entertaining step in the filmmaker's cinematic journey.

Everything looks and sounds terrific here, and as among the stars Benoît Poelvoorde and Grégoire Ludig do most of the heavy-lifting, they especially are to be commended for so heartily embracing the spirit of the piece. It remains true, though, that Dupieux's keen wit and inventive ideas of storytelling are the primary draw for all his flicks, and this is no different. His tremendously fun screenplay lays out the path; his guidance as director ensures that no foot strays from that path of cheerfully, nonchalantly, but definitively defying norms and boundaries of fiction. When all is said and done the movie is simply a blast - we should expect no less - and anyone who at all appreciates what Dupieux does will enjoy themselves just as much in these 73 minutes. What he does won't appeal to all comers, but if you're open to all the wide, wacky possibilities that the medium has to offer, 'Keep an eye out' is low-key brilliant and a gem that's not to be missed!

Definitely a fan of Quentin's ever since I saw Rubber. But I don't know French, and my eyes are getting old and hard to see subtitles now. And that's the BIGGEST problem with this movie, is that the majority takes place in this very bright police office. Much of the white subtitles are washed out by light, white paper on desks, white shirts. VERY hard for me to keep up with and understand whatever was going on. If there were slightly yellow or greyed subtitles, or placed on the ratio bars with a slight change to aspect ratio - or dare I say a 'English dub' version, I think this movie would be a lot better enjoyed and appreciated. As it stands now for us anglophones, it's more a mysterious mystery than a twisted comedy.

Wanna be really really confused while watching a comedy, then you gotta see a Quentin Dupieux movie. Just to inform you how weird all of his movies are, he made another movie about a car tire. Yes, you read that right, an entire movie about a car tire, that started a life on it's own, because that car tire started to kill people. Weird enough for you?

This movie is one of the least weirdest movies Quentin Dupieux has made though, but I GUARANTEE you, that you will be freaked out at some point anyway, because his stories are uniquely weird and bizar.

Oh, you still wanna know what this story is about? It starts out as a simple inquiry at a police station about a dead man found on the doorstep of someone's house. Things go off into all sorts of weird AND funny directions after that seemingly innocent start...

Any bad? Well, the reason I only award it with 7 stars is because of the fact that being a weird picture isnt enough to keep me interested for 90 minutes. Any comedy, however weird, for me personally, also HAS to be true to life in some kind of way. This movie isnt and therefore I will only award it with 7 stars.

But if you are dumbfounded and delighted by this movie then please do check out some of the unique other Quentin Dupieux movies though, because this director WILL CONFUSE YOU in ways you have never experienced before... I am not kiddin'...

If you are aware of the body of work the director has created, you probably don't need to read what I or others have to say. If you are not sure check the biography/filmography of the director. Anything familiar there? This right here may feel familiar but also almost feels "normal", especially considering this has a story that is quite coherent.

I say quite, because there are still a lot of things that are "weird" to put it mildly. You can't even begin to guess all the twists and turns, because we get treated with something unexpected from time to time. I personally love to be challenged like that. You have to know if that is your thing or not. If not, then I'd obviously advice you not to watch this. It would be a waste of time for you and a bad review for the movie obviously.

I'm not familiar with Quentin's Dupieux work, but i'm most definitly going to correct that ! It is burlesque as one would hope, the work of the DOP is great and really imersive. The casting is perfect, all in all a great achievement.