Aaltra

Black and white, 35 mm
Belgium, France, 2004, 90 min
Section: Variety Critics´ Choice

Synopsis

Unsympathetic characters generate wicked mirth in Belgian comic duo Benoît Delépine’s and Gustave Kervern´s Aaltra, a road movie with a difference. There´s no moralizing as two nasty wheelchair-bound neighbors try to take advantage of everyone around them, and wry performances and handsome B&W widescreen lensing make the voyage feel like an agreeable detour. Gus (Kervern) is an uptight white-collar worker with a volcanically angry worldview. His slovenly neighbor, Ben (Delepine), is a layabout farmer who enjoys being a thorn in Gus´ side. Crushed by a tractor, they join forces on a journey to Finland to lay siege to the factory that built the offending tractor. Dialogue is pared to the minimum, and an especially big laugh for cineastes occurs in the last scene.

Jay Weissberg