Cadavres

With good headliners like Le Breton and Huard and a good support cast, this onr had potential. Sadly all we get is a weird story with a claustrophobic feeling throughout. Some good moments, but not a good movie.

Bear in mind, I went to this movie with absolutely no expectations or preconceived notions. I knew only of the main actor. It is gross and it is funny from beginning pretty much til the end. The acting is enjoyably over the top and the script is sufficiently spare leaving us appreciating some moments of silence, during images filled with sous-entendus even more gross than the actual script.

The notion of comedy here will possibly be lost on a great many viewers as it deals with sex and gore in a very Québécois way, if I dare say so, but I laughed out loud in many moments and plenty of images and moments will forever have a drawer in my mind.

This is a great film, it is a very dark comedy. I am surprised at how low the rating on IMDb is, 5.3 at time of writing, because this is original and very entertaining.

The actors all deliver good performances. Huard is excellent in the lead role with a very unstated performance as a desperate loser, LeBreton as the over-the-top sexy narcissist is also good and the rest of the cast playing mostly idiots perform well.

The pace is good, it starts of with a bang and although it slows down in a few places it is never too long between violence and humour.

This is a farce, the humour is slapstick, so don't expect any amazing dialogue.

The timing is superb and some of the unfortunate events are genuinely surprising.

The ending is also a bit of a surprise if less funny than expected from the rest of the film.

Lots of laugh out loud moments.

One look at "Cadavres" different sceneries or acting quickly reveals that the crew and the actors really invested a lot of energy in this project... and it shows way too much.

Sadly, the result looks more like an exaggerated stage play than a movie. François Barcelo's script itself is awful, full of unbelievably cartoonish characters evolving in unnatural studio-made locations. The family's old house especially looks studio-made.

Although the lighting and special effects are beautiful to the eye, they just add to the whole artificial mess. The movie-in-the-movie scenes featuring the actress' TV character look like dumb caricatures of TV shows. There is now way they would have been screened outside of a children or comedy context.

Of course, people looking for coloured circus-like adult movies - there is some nudity and sex, but not that much - might like "Cadavres".

As for myself, the magic did not operate. I prefer a more realistic, less-staged approach to movie-making.

All in all, Québec has produced a lot of better movies.