Film & TV

Film Review: Bye Bye Morons

This anarchic social-satire teams three misfits against the bureaucracy

Prolific actor, writer, and director, Albert Dupontel, has created a work of originality, warmth, and anarchic humour, in his latest project, Bye Bye Morons.

Suze is desperate to find the child she was forced to give up for adoption nearly 30 years ago. Jean-Baptiste has been pushed out of his job by younger IT professionals. Serge was blinded by a police shooting, and now works in the dark, the archival basement of the Public Records Office. Through a series of crazy events, the three misfits are thrown together, as they go on a journey to find Suze’s child, and to individually reclaim their agency in a world which doesn’t seem to care.

Dupontel’s screenplay keeps the quirkiness of the plot at a level where the audience can buy-in without suspending too much belief. The aesthetic of slightly futuristic hyper-reality hits just the right note, without detracting from the compassion and satire that sit at the heart of the narrative. Cinematography by Alexis Kavyrchine adds to the hyper-reality, and has a graphic-novel feel to much of it.

Virginie Efira gives a strength to Suze that lifts the character away from helpless victim. Dupontel himself gives his usual solid performance as Jean-Baptiste, and Nicolas MariƩ handles a very difficult role, playing the trope of the stumbling blind-man, complete with white stick, without making him a simplistic figure of fun. And Terry Gilliam (whose work this resembles) makes a cameo appearance.

This is a film that stays with you. From its fast-paced, eccentric beginning, until its devastating ending, it gets under your skin. And in the final analysis, isn’t that what great film-making is all about?

Bye Bye Morons opens today.

GETS UNDER YOUR SKIN 4.5 stars

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