“A homicidal car tire, discovering it has destructive psionic power, sets its sights on a desert town once a mysterious woman becomes its obsession.” This is the IMDB plot synopsis of Rubber, the Quentin Dupieux film that is almost unmatched in weirdness. It stars a series of unknowns, and a tire. A tire that through reasons explained in the film comes to life, and goes on a killing spree in search of a woman. That’s the real plot. I’m not kidding you in the slightest. Normally I would explain to you the symbolism of the tire, and what its weirdness represents in term of themes and the broader message of the film, but I really have no clue.
I haven’t the slightest idea what the tire means, why the film has a tire as its protagonist, or why there is an audience in the film watching the film, just like us as an audience would. There isn’t any point to this absurdity, kind of like life. This film questions the point of life with a film that is equally pointless, and absurd just like life itself. It has something so out of the ordinary going on in this film, and so pointless that it never takes you out of the film because it reflects the director’s standpoint on life so perfectly. This film will leave you with a smile on your face, but later cause you to question the point of life. Or maybe everything I’m saying is wrong and you hate it your first watch and never want to see it again. Either way I highly recommend you watch this film. Thanks for reading and make sure to come back next week for another installation of Jackson’s obscure film of the week.Next week we’ll discuss the Richard Linklater film Waking Life.
