Bad Film Festival: Rubber

What defines a bad film? For some, it is the mere suggestion of absurdity – that life onscreen doesn’t mirror the natural world exactly. This is the only reason why I can imagine a film bearing such a stellar synopsis as 2010’s Rubber warrants entry into the library’s Bad Film Festival event series. From Wikipedia, verbatim: “The film is about a tire that comes to life and kills people with psychokinetic powers.” Like, OKAY?!?!? That rips. French on its director/writer’s side, the Quentin Dupieux-helmed feature rolled through Cannes Film Festival as a horror comedy – poking fun at its own premise as well as slashers the world over. See if the movie’s lost any tread in the years since its premiere at this free screening, and report back whether it’s truly “bad” or just a little tiring. – James Scott Read a full review of Rubber.