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If you had to pick ONE Roy Dupuis film to avoid, this could be a very good choice. Cringingly racist, sexist and a multitude of other –ists, this is a film that no-one would blame you for abandoning within half an hour. But we Roy Reviewers have to brave such ordeals to bring you these recommendations. The story concerns two black men who share an apartment in St Louis Square in Montreal. Man is an aspiring author, Bouba a sleepaholic and self-styled counsellor given to quoting the Koran. Both share a passion for bedding white women who are unfailingly impressed by their proficiency in the sexual arena. The woman are teeth-jarring stereotypes such as Classy Rich WASPs (preferred by Man), and Dizzy/ Suicidal/ Mystics (Bouba’s conquests of choice). While they are getting on with their lives they are being observed by the local low-life drug dealers, a Gang of Three with Roy playing the middle one, a.k.a. Pusher #2. The pushers watch the black guys doing their own thing, and decide quite wrongly that they’re about to muscle in on their territory. So they set fire to their apartment, almost, but not quite, destroying Man’s newly completed manuscript. And that’s all there is to the plot. In one way you want the film to go on to a more dramatic ending, in another way you’re grateful it’s over. In the ratio 1:100. It’s difficult to imagine the Roy of this decade being involved in something as universally offensive as this film. He was young – 26 in 1989 – and Filles de Caleb hadn’t yet materialised. The dumb racist thug role is pretty unconvincing (and in the English dubbed version the dubbing is done by someone else and is appalling). Roy has made some pretty suspect choices in his film career, but none as bad as this. Roy-related Trivia: Several of the scenes are shot in St Louis Square, where we think Roy must have been living at the time. He is the chauffeur of the gang, but he didn’t have a driving licence in real life. |
