It’s easy to forget that Ben Wheatley – the genial genius behind such warped and vicious masterpieces as In the Earth and A Field in England, and subversive studio pics like Free Fire and High Rise – started off in sitcoms and sketch comedy TV.
That fact is the start of a very wiggly line that leads him back – or maybe back around – to Bulk, a delightfully and deeply silly film that finds dry mirth in weird science, stylish vintage homages, crime thrillers, British restraint, and cardboard.
Wheatley’s recent career has become the poster child for the idea of “one for the studio, one for you.” With his new film with the team behind action-comedy Nobody, Toronto International Film Festival selection Normal, firmly in the “one for the studio” category, Fantastic Fest hosted the world premiere of Bulk as a movie that is absolutely one for Wheatley: sweet, bizarre, idiosyncratic, a film that demands your attention while still being delightfully whimsical.
In its all-encompassing oddness and absolute sense of its own bizarre frequency, Bulk feels the closest to Wheatley’s early work as writer and director on TV shows like Time Trumpet and Modern Toss, shows that were inheritors to that distinctive brand of British surrealism in The Goon Show, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and Blue Jam. It’s also, in a peculiarly British way, Wheatley’s warped version of A Matter of Life and Death.
That said, it starts as a shadowy slice of black-and-white noir, with rumpled reporter Cory Harlan (Sam Riley) kidnapped and taken to a very average suburban house. Although it’s not really a house. As the cool and enigmatic Aclima (Alexandra Maria Lara) explains, it’s all to do with something called a brain collider, a missing technocrat, Anton Chambers (Mark Monero), and the Bulk, which we’ll get to eventually.
Déjà vu is the name of the game, as everything becomes vaguely familiar even if they keep changing. Harlan remains blissfully baffled while different iterations of Aclima explain what’s happening, even if it’s different to what already happened, while Noah Taylor plays a chorus of the same character.
Everything is constructed with purposeful artifice, with props that look as if they were purloined from a kindergarten play’s set. All the dialogue is re-recorded with the warm, flat yet cozy sound of a BBC Radio recording studio, while the practical effects steal half their techniques from 1970s children’s TV. There’s something almost nostalgic in this absurd sci-fi Britain, a place where a white lab coat still implies expertise and trustworthiness.
Bulk is Wheatley’s most playful film to date while also being his most obtuse. It demands that you meet it on its own ridiculous, absurdist terms and if you can’t do that, well, no hard feelings, old chap.
But if you can find its peculiar rhythm, Bulk is a dance of nimble silliness that hides a surprisingly sweet tale of connections and determination. As the real nature of the relationship between Harlan and Aclima wobbles into focus, it’s as much a matter of perspective as everything else about this entertainingly elusive experiment. From one viewpoint, it’s an awful tragedy. But from another it’s arguably deeply romantic and a testament to the value of the stiff upper lip and stick-to-itness of British culture. Wheatley’s profound Britishness is as much a character here as any of the iterations played by his four actors. That he also finally crafts his first real romance is a sign that, for as much as Bulk takes him back to his roots, he remains a filmmaker with surprises yet to be revealed.
Bulk
Texas Premiere
Tuesday, Sept. 23, 5:340pm
Fantastic Fest 2025 runs Sept. 18-25, Passes and info at fantasticfest.com.
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