Cannibal Review

• 26th Sep 2011

Cannibal promised to be a stylish thriller but it did not live up to its claims. The subject matter is ambitious for a first time director/writer and the plot suffers as a consequence. The film is confusing: either it is a horror in which case it should focus on the notion of cannibalism or it is a drama in which case the film has been grossly mismarketed.

This is the feature film debut of Benjamin Viré . It was also a rare chance to see a new Belgium film.  It stars debut lead Helena Coppejans and more established television actor Nicolas Gob. I will admit to not watching as many Belgium films as I should have and attribute this in part to an overshadowing influence cast by its neighbouring countries: France and Germany. This was a chance to put Belgium back on the billboards and advertise its local talent but somewhere along the lines it failed.

The plot revolves around Max a young man in his mid twenties living in the woods with a passion for golf. One day when he is out practicing his swing he finds a woman, covered in blood and unconscious. Naturally he takes her home rather than calling the police. He looks after her and names her Bianca. Overnight she disappears from his house and concerned for her well being he looks for her. He finds her in a parked car down the road, she is eating a man and rather than calling the police he takes her back to his house and buries the dead man. Out of the woods and into the city a group of men sit in a bar playing cards. There is talk of a girl the gang have lost and they seem intent on getting her back. The story switches back and forth between the gang of men and the pair of lovebirds until the bloody conclusion.

The film burrows stylistic elements from an array of popular films, I find it hard to pick an original thought amongst them. The grungy lighting and washed out colour are clear nods to modern urban cinema, films which are more often than not set in America in a seedy underworld of crime.  The music reflects this genre this is a French language film but the rapping is in American English. The cinematographer is trying to emulate films like Bullet Boy or Kidulthood and if I did not know otherwise I would not be able to tell where this film was set. It is this denial of location which is the weakest part of the film. It could have been easier to relate too if I recognised a city and the director has missed an opportunity to comment on the ‘Americanisation’ of culture in Belgium.

Another side of the film tries to copy the success of art house films. The frame seems to study the characters of Max and Bianca in the opening. The cutaways of the woods are excessively long and distracting. I have seen a similar style used to great effect in the first half of Antichrist but in this film the technique is misplaced.

So this film has attempted to divorce itself of one genre and it has successes only in mudding the waters. Urban film can be poetic and it can be a study on human nature an example of this is The Lives of Saints which treads an interesting balance been a north London gang squabble and a morality poem a’la Chaucer. Benjamin Viré could have walked the balance with great effect but he seemed to keen to include guns, violence and sex. If he was aware of the cliché nature of his film, like Tarantino, it could have been ironic but unfortunately this is not the case.

I am a horror fan, I love a bit of blood and gore but after discovering that this story is more of a drama I was unprepared for the graphic gratuitous violence. There is a scene where Bianca slips a finger under the skin of a man’s arm and then wiggles it about making the skin pop up and down. This was so unconvincing as to be humorous; a cardinal sin in reaction to true horror! Perhaps I would find the film more acceptable if it was entirely about a monstrous girl who eats men. However Viré has made Bianca entice men with sex first.  The idea of a praying mantis, which at climax begins to eat her victim, is just too much. I am not advocating censorship but the film has achieved a 15 certificate. Few fifteen year olds would have such bad taste as to enjoy this sort of quick buck and cheap thrill mishmash.

The film is shot almost entirely handheld. This technique is perfect from chase sequences as the chaotic movements build unease and tension but it loses this power if used for too long. The cinematographer makes the mistake more than once to film dialogue handheld. It is a careful balance between unease and motion sickness which the film does not win.  The mistakes in the camera department do not stop there. Several times in the film I found frames with the subject out of focus for no discernable reason. Perhaps the director was pushed for time and limited the cinematographer to a certain number of takes. Perhaps the editor had not alternative but to use bad takes. Whatever the reason this is badly film and it is paramount in a debut not to include bad shots. At this stage in his career Viré should not be making these mistakes.

Near the conclusion of the film the frames switch from under lit colour to black and white. I suppose it is to illustrate the unease of our protagonist Max but rather than helping it hinders. It is like flipping off the light switch and is distracting from the story and the tension. This is a directorial choice which appears juvenile.

This is not a film I would recommend watching with your loved ones. It is dark, badly made and un-redeeming in any aspect. Benjamin Viré has the benefit of time as a new director, I suggest he goes back to the drawing board and learns to write a cracking script before his next foray into the world of motion pictures. 

Lauren Hounsome