This absurdist farce brings together a cast of odd ducks to compete for an S.U.V.
The absurdist farce “Stanleyville” begins with the prim-and-proper pink-coated Maria (Susanne Wuest) witnessing a bird fly into an office window. It’s a random event, but one that shakes her. Life, even for a bird, is full of meaningless humiliations. The film attempts to recreate this initial image of futility with human characters, but the movie makes less of an impression than the bird.
Soon after witnessing the death by the window, Maria is approached to participate in a contest in which the winner will receive a shiny orange S.U.V. Maria demurs, until, with the eyes of a fanatic, the contest promoter, Homunculus (Julian Richings), promises that her participation will lead to personal transcendence. At this, she accepts.
Maria competes with four other contestants, each one a fussy oddity. There is a one-lunged man who wants to become famous, a fitness and pyramid-scheme enthusiast, a neurotic businessman and a black-clad cynic who simply wants to win a car. Homunculus becomes their proctor, presiding over games where the rules seem arbitrary and the judgment appears subjective. As the players compete, the games become more violent and absurd. But Maria, hellbent on achieving her promised enlightenment, remains convinced their competition has philosophical purpose.
The director Maxwell McCabe-Lokos has created a purposefully designed film, filled with meticulously color-blocked frames, and characters whose flashy, leopard-print or sports-blazer costumes describe their entire characters. The curious effect of these micromanaged images is to make even the most violent events seem twee. The contest intentionally lacks meaningful rewards, an obvious metaphor for life’s arbitrary stakes. But as cinema, the lack of purpose becomes a test of patience.
Stanleyville
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. In theaters.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
