Reality

Reality depicts a confused vision of the world, and it’s also the name of a child, interpreted by Kyla Kennedy, whose eyes struggle to establish what’s really true. There’s very little that can be explained about this movie: there’s more than a storyline driving it; it’s a surreal cinematic journey that transcends rules and formulas.

The plot revolves around Jason (Alain Chabat), a television cameraman who wants to become a director and pitches his idea for a horror movie to wealthy and ADD-affected producer Bob Marshal. Bob accepts, on condition that he finds the perfect scream within 48 hours.

A series of grotesque events take place and it’s never clear whether it’s all happening in Jason’s head (he constantly awakes from nightmares during his search), or if it’s real.

Set in California, this is a bilingual movie, switching between French and English with ease. References to David Lynch’s films are countless but they are never out of place; the desert and dry landscape reminds us of Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point too.

Expect a rat-disguised Jon Heder suffering from imaginary eczema and scratching nervously in each scene, a girl seeing a blue cassette tape inside a boar that is being gutted by her father, multiple layers of dream (the director Quentin Dupieux cites Inception as a major inspiration) and much more.

Dupieux shot every single scene himself and the result is a little gem that anyone with a movie fetish should not miss.

Filippo L’Astorina, the Editor

The UK release date for Reality is yet to be announced.

Read more reviews from Venice Film Festival 2014 here.

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