Ty Watches "Deerskin"

Yesterday I watched a movie that a buddy of mine has been suggesting to me for awhile. The movie is called "Le Daim", or in English, "Deerskin". This is one of many movies made by French director, Quentin Dupieux. He has directed a bunch of other movies, but the only other Dupieux movie I have watched is "Rubber".

For those that don't know, Dupieux likes to make weird movies. He is an abstract film maker. "Rubber" was about a sentient tire that exacts revenge on the human race. It is absurd and funny and wild and I enjoyed my viewing experience. Once I let go and just accepted the world he had created, I bought into "Rubber". "Deerskin" is not like "Rubber". Although it has a wild premise, it is much more of a slow burn. I want to move ahead spoiler free, so I will give a broad retelling of the premise of "Deerskin".

A man goes to buy an authentic deerskin jacket from a guy he meets online. He uses every last penny he has to get this jacket. The man gives it to him and also gives him a camcorder. The man becomes obsessed with the jacket, thinking it is the best jacket in the world. He is always mentioning his "sick style" in reference to his new look. He doesn't know what to do with the camcorder, so he makes up a fake story that he is a filmmaker. He entrusts the help of a local bartender, who also happens to be a film editor and they decide they are going to make a movie together. The idea for this movie is to convince everyone else to give up their coats so this man can be the only one wearing a coat in the world. They will do this by any means necessary. Along the way the man gets himself a full deerskin outfit. That is about as vague as I can get with a description.

Now I get it, this sounds odd. This sounds like some nonsense. But, much like "Rubber", once I let myself get engaged with the world they created, I was all in. This movie goes in some interesting directions, and I couldn't take my eyes off screen. The two main actors really give it their all in this movie, and I totally buy their performances. Dupieux created another bizarre world, and I was anxious to see where he took everything. While it wasn't necessarily the ending I wanted, I understand why he closed the movie out the way he did.

I was pleased with my viewing experience of  "Deerskin". The slow burn was effective. The performances were good. The story was interesting and weird. And it was something unexpected, which I have come to expect with Dupieux's work. The movie is also 77 minutes long, which is wonderful for such an odd story. I recommend this movie if you are into avant garde, weird stories. This is different. This is wild. This is not the norm. But man was it a solid, mind bending watch. I feel like I want to go back and watch it again to see if there was some stuff that I missed. This also makes me want to watch more of Dupieux's movies, which I most certainly will do. But, for me, "Deerskin" was successful. Go check it out. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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