journal features

movie review - Rubber

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Kokubunji, 2021.06.24

This is a movie about a pissed-off semi-sentient car tire that discovers it has psionic abilities. Developing a bald obsession with a young woman, it sets out to .. well, I'm not sure. Featuring a cast that includes people gathered* specifically to observe the tire's activities and a not small body count, the writers provide spare dialogue and avoid well-worn cliches or treading on the characters in a way that's refreshing. The only jarring note for me came in the coda, in which the titular character leading a gang of similar tires into Hollywood. I felt that the point had been made and that this was unnecessary.

I'm not good at puns. Wait, is anyone?

Strongly recommended. With a caveat that it won't be for everyone.

*This verb has different meanings.

rand()m quote

If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I would be crazier than I've been on this trip. I know very few things I'd take seriously any more. I'd certainly be less hygenic... I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have many more of them, in fact I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. If I had it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and I'd stay that way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more people and pick more flowers and dance more often. If I had it to do all over again - but you see, I don't.

—Jorge Luis Borges