Guy Madden, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson come together for the absurdist, star-studded black-comedy film “Rumors,” released earlier this month. It is by far one of the most intriguing films I’ve seen this year. Part thriller, part 1980s horror flick, it follows members of the G7 Council, comprised of some of the world’s most powerful political and economic leaders, as they become lost in the woods outside Dankerode, Germany in the wake of an unidentified global catastrophe.
The Los Angeles Times described it as “Diplomacy goes primal,” and frankly, that’s entirely correct. What I found most interesting about this film was easily the cast; the main characters are, of course, the members of the G7, with Cate Blanchett as the Chancellor of Germany, Charles Dance as the President of the United States, Roy Dupuis as the Canadian Prime Minister, Denis Ménochet as the President of France, Nikki Amuka-Bird as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rolando Ravello as the Prime Minister of Italy, and Takehiro Hira as the Prime Minister of Japan.
I’m not sure another surreal, post-apocalyptic film with such powerful characters exists, and if it does, I’ve certainly never seen it. This, paired with the film’s heavy-handed humor, made it enjoyable and entertaining, while also being tense and emotional at the right times. The underlying political message, poking fun at the uselessness of political summits and global conferences in times of real crisis, strikes hard, enhanced by the cast’s dramatized naïveté. One of many examples, and one of my favorite snippets from the film, is when one of the members asks, “Who’s going to rescue us?” and another quickly replies, “The authorities, of course.”
Their reaction to being lost in the woods amidst this bizarre, never-explained ‘global catastrophe,’ all while being plagued by giant brains, delirious economic executives, and self-pleasuring bog bodies, is both mystifying and delightfully entertaining to watch. Blanchett’s performance as cool-headed, slightly aloof Hilda Ortmann is simply great. All the characters do a great job of showing how used they are to having someone cater to their every whim, with Ménochet wandering around lost ringing a little bell and Maxine Laplace, the emotional Canadian MP, getting drunk before the film really even begins.
“Rumors” is deeply genre-specific. Not everyone will enjoy this film, but I’m confident it’ll find its niche and maybe kick off another series of dark-horror films.