Ex-Drummer [2007] [DVD]

"Ex Drummer" (2007 release from Belgium; 104 min.) centers around a famous Flemish author, Dries, who gets "recruited" to join a local band to become their drummer. The band members bill themselves as "handicapped": one lisps, the next has a stiff arm, and the third is almost deaf. What is the handicap of the new drummer? He can't drum! The band, deciding to call themselves The Feminists, starts rehearsing for a one-off gig at a local "battle of the band". Eventually we get to that gig.

Several comments: to say more of the plot would be non-sensical, as this movie is a stylish exercise in extreme absurdity, not unlike, say, "Transpotting", except that it does that movie one (or two) better, and then some. After the battle of the bands concludes, the movie's last 30 minutes descends into a hellish nightmare that needs to be seen to be believed. This is about the most "anti" politically correct movie I have seen in, well, forever. It is anti-everything. Beware: there are quite a few scenes that are simply not for the faint of heart. The movie is written and directed most capably by Koen Mortier, based on a 1994 book by Herman Brusselmans, a well-known, if controversial, author and columnist in Belgium.

Let me admit that I grew up in Flanders myself, and as such I'm quite sure it was a slightly different experience for me than most others. For one, the language in the movie (a West-Flanders dialect) is so darn funny that the subtitles simply cannot pick up all of the nuances (although they were better than I expected). The music plays of course a huge part in the movie, and the trash-metal these bands play is not a big scene in Belgium, I know that for a fact. But check out the cameo appearance of the legendary Belgian musician Arno at the end of the "battle of the bands", just amazing. Bottom line: this movie is not just miles, but GALAXIES away from your standard Hollywood fare.

The dialog in the film is so quick-witted sometimes I could barely keep up with the subtitles. It's dark and nihilistic and spares nothing in its onslaught. It's offensive, very funny at times, punk and truly bizarre. There's a subtle structural game going on as well that's all but lost amidst the barrage of hate and humor. Based on the semi-autobiographical cult novel by controversial Belgian writer Herman Brusselmans, Ex Drummer tells the story of Dries, a famous writer living the good life with his beautiful wife in their beautiful apartment, who is approached one day by three losers who want him to join their band as the drummer. He accepts the invitation as an opportunity for source material. As the film unfolds Dries is sometimes seen as reporting on the events that he experiences and at other times he seems to be inventing them. It's not important to the film one way or the other and appears to be just one of innumerable filmic techniques employed by the director of this punk stew.

Each member of the band must have a handicap. The singer has a lisp and lives on the ceiling of his apartment. The lisp was lost on me as I don't speak the language, but it is apparently so bad it's reached the level of a handicap. The bass player has a debilitating mother complex, keeps his father in a straight jacket strapped to a bed in his attic, and he's got a stiff right arm. The guitar player is deaf and addicted to crack. The drummer's handicap is that he can't play drums ... but he's writing the story so he lies about it.

The band is only going to play one gig, a battle of the bands, and then breakup. There isn't much of a story to follow. We're simply treated to the machinations of this motley crew as they prepare for the concert and their lives crumble around them. The soundtrack is magnificent and the acting is all spot on. If you like punk, you should like this.

<strong>Ex Drummer</strong> (Koen Mortier, 2007)

From everything I'd heard about Koen Mortier's <em>Ex Drummer</em>, a shockingly (well, shocking to me, anyway) controversial film when it came out in 2007, I expected it to be a Flemish <em>Goreinvasión</em>. Instead, I got a Flemish <em>Hard Core Logo</em>, and while it's nowhere near as brilliant as Bruce MacDonald's tale of life-on-the-road punk woe, it's funny, it's switchblade-sharp, and it's not nearly as politically incorrect, or as controversial, as you've been told.

Plot: Dries (successful TV actor Dries van Hagen, most recently in the series <em>David</em>) is a drummer who joins a band where everyone is handicapped. (This is the source of most of the controversy, and it's entirely artificial; the "handicaps" in question are of the emotional "daddy didn't cuddle me growing up" variety... which really, when you consider it, means Dries is joining Staind.) There is then great controversy among both critics and fans, entirely separate from the controversy that surrounds the "handicapped" issue, about what occurs. The press for the film, and most of the critics who reviewed it when it was first released, are convinced that Dries immediately starts manipulating the other members of the band in his own quest for fame and fortune. A growing number of us, on the other hand, have a different view of that, but I'm getting ahead of myself. In any case, the band (who are truly awful) start making a name for themselves, capitalizing on the handicapped angle. Can fame and fortune truly be on the horizon? Hey, it worked for the Kids of Widney High...

So, back to the manipulation angle, which is where the <em>real</em> controversy about the film can be found (in the same way that, say, it's "controversial" that the original cut of <em>The Killing of a Chinese Bookie</em> is better than the director's cut). Is Dries actually manipulating the band? Because let's face it, these guys are stereotypes. They're lazy white-trash rednecks who are trying to find a way to get out of working for a living, and what they need is direction. Dries is the only one in the band with even the slightest motivation to get anyone going, even if that motivation is somewhat ulterior (Dries is a writer, and he's ultimately going to write about all this--but the band knows that before he signs on). How much can it be manipulation when everyone gets what they want, and Dries' laying down the law (which comes to a head about two-thirds of the way through the movie) seems a lot more like a frustrated parent dealing with raging toddlers than it does someone who's manipulating adults? The movie's worth watching just to find out what side of the line you're on.

Not that there's no other reason to watch it. It's wickedly funny, as politically incorrect as one would expect given the premise (the lazy-redneck premise, not the handicapped premise), and the sterling soundtrack is chock full of bands like Lightning Bolt, Mogwai, Isis, Arno, and Funeral Dress (okay, I'd never heard of the last before seeing the movie, but immediately picked up their first album after). It could've been a touch more coherent, to be sure, and it seems to lose its way during the final third of the film (until we get to the climax), as if Mortier (who adapted the screenplay from Herman Brusselmans' novel) didn't quite know how to get from point A to point B. Still, it's one to watch. ***

Ex Drummer is a dark view of humanity as seen through a small group of punk rockers with their ironic name and their dismal lifestyles. On the surface it appears to be a straight forward look into the workings, albeit dysfunctional, of a punk band trying to get it together to play at a concert. They need a drummer and so enters the man in black. At this point the film begins to act on metaphors that inform the viewer about what is happening. The writer who masquerades as the drummer may also be an angel. The lead singer who has the cryptic tattoo 'God is D Evil' may be Lucifer. His appearance (while in his bloody apartment) finds him living on the ceiling upside down. And throughout the film the drummer speaks in metaphors and changes the course of the band, their friends and families lives. This film is gritty raw and uncomprimising in its views on people and society. The juxtapositions between the drummer's life and the band's help keep this film solid and engaging. The 'making of' feature is darkly brilliant and refreshing.

A Belgian punk band made up of handicapped guys hire a writer (who can't drum) to drum, and set out to perform a single show where they'll cover Devo's Mongoloid.

This movie is equally horrifying as it is amusing. It's almost like a cross between Irréversible and Bronson. It's easy to see why this director has been tapped to direct Chuck Palahniuk's upcoming Haunted adaptation.