Of Unknown Origin

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Watched this one last night, it was pretty fun. Hadn't seen it before and I think we wound up getting it because Alison took John Waters' recommendation.

At any rate, had no idea it was shot in Canada until the end credits. It gets pretty intense in spots but it also has some dark humor running through it that I appreciated. A lot of this surrounds Weller's breakdown once his job is on the line while he's trying to deal with the rat. The whole movie basically revolves around him. You could probably take out any of the scenes he and the rat weren't in and have a really solid hour long super intense movie as the other characters are more or less just filler. Weller carries it though.

Fun stuff.

[Barry M Super Fiend Find all posts View Profile Close Barry M]

Re: Of Unknown Origin

Yeah, I like this a lot too. The rat docu footage has a Hinterland Who's Who vibe to it, which kind of set off my Red Rose Tea sensors, but the Montreal locations are less instantly recognizable Hollywood North than Toronto's dressed streets. Hemingway OLD MAN AND THE SEA pastiche aside, Weller does make it a surprisingly fine, and yeah, intense psychological story.

I gave mine to my daughter to watch when her apartment had rats.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

I haven't seen this for years, but I used to watch it regularly back in the 1990s. I'm a fan of most of Weller's films, but he's particularly good here, as the besieged patriarch. The rat causes Weller to tear apart the home he built, offering a challenge to this patriarch's assumed authority and bourgeois ideals. It's quite a clever little film, filled with allegorical touches and some welcome black humour.

It's been too long since I last saw this film. I need to acquire it on DVD.