Matt’s Flick Pick: ‘Rubber’

Rubber

Rubber

Matt Merchant

A tire comes to life, begins to roam a sandy desert landscape, realizes its lust for blood and begins killing humans with psychic abilities.

Sounds insane, right? It is. This is one of the most bizarre movies you will ever watch. As a film, it never seems to end, like “Cosmopolis;” it has terribly cliché dialogue, like “Napoleon Dynamite;” it even knows it’s a bad movie — the characters will tell the audience directly how bad it is — like “Cabin in the Woods.” To top it off, there’s no plot. When you hit play, don’t think. Just watch.

It’s entertaining. It’s crude. It’s a work of art. Despite the odd concept, I couldn’t help but feel captivated while watching this irrational film. You’ll ask a lot of questions. Why is the tire alive? Why did the tire kill that rabbit? Why is it killing people? Why are the characters talking to me? Why are there a bunch of tourists watching the same movie you’re watching who are also in the movie but don’t understand what’s going on either? And why am I watching this, again?

You will shudder as the tire shudders. You will laugh when the maniacal sheriff laughs. You will finish the movie wondering about what the tire symbolizes, what it represents. You will ponder all of these things and that is the masterful beauty of it: It’s up to you to decide what it all means. Or not, because, you know, there really are no answers.

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