Another year, another Quentin Dupieux oddity. While the specter of new work from “the guy who made a movie about the killer tire” has, perhaps, worn down in the decade since Rubber, word on Mandibles—including our own—has been strong, critics praising its comfortable marriage of surrealism with buddy-comedy antics. One of those buddies just happens to be a giant fly.
Magnolia will release Mandibles on July 23, ahead of which is a trailer selling said antics amiably enough. (And, okay, we never balk at the sight of Adèle Exarchopoulos; we’re only red-blooded.) As our review from last year’s Venice Film Festival said, “Perhaps we’re comedy-starved in today’s cinematic landscape, but Dupieux’s rollicking adventure generates rare laugh-out-loud moments and even a few applause-worthy bits. It’s a shame Mandibules won’t attempt to make its reputation in the traditional way, in a film festival run at cult or midnight slots. Ever cine-literate, Dupieux’s technique and film references are more eclectic than most American comedy––one sequence is akin to Peckinpah and Melville, and cineastes charmed by Bruno Dumont’s black comedies Li’l Quinquin and Slack Bay will also be satiated. It’s Dupieux’s most polished, expensive, and well-made film, and, not coincidentally, also his best.”
Watch the preview below:
