I have once again been binging on movies in preparation for
Dark Discussions annual year in review episode. The last film I watched before
compiling my “best of” list was the Belgian horror film Cub.
Sam, a boy
somewhere on the autism spectrum, is part of a scout troop on a weekend camping
trip. The scout masters spin tales of Kai the werewolf boy to entertain and
frighten their charges, unaware there is a real wild child watching over them.
Simple enough, but what follows definitely goes in
unexpected directions. The real “Kai” causes only minor mischief among the
campers, and only Sam knows that he exists. The real threat comes from a serial
killer (I assume) who has seeded the woods with elaborate traps.
Cub is a film that
seems to have divided audiences. It generated very strong word of mouth on the
festival circuit, but now sits in the mid 30’s on Rotten Tomatoes. The kills
are fun, director Joas Govaerts presents solid visuals, and I enjoy Steve Moore’s
throwback synth score. The film’s characters are believable – the kids act as
kids do, and the counselors are typical 20 somethings caught between wanting to
teach the kids and entertain themselves – and the performances (as best as I
can tell given the language barrier) are solid. This is especially noteworthy
as the 12 year old boys are players by actual 12 year olds. In particular I liked
Gil Eeckelaert's
Kai, being able to convey a variety of emotions in addition to the menace the
role requires.
For all these reasons, I find myself landing on the slight disappointed “pro”
side, but I can’t help but wonder if I would be as supporting if the film was
in English instead of Belgonian*.
Obviously, it is hard to rate performances if you don’t
speak the language. Most 12 year old actors come across poorly in English, and
it may be that the reason I so liked Eeckelaert’s performance so much is
because Kai is the one character who speaks only through body language.
More of an issue though is the plot. Now, this is a straight
up horror film, and as such the story matters much less than the kills, the
scares and the atmosphere, but there are glaringly obvious issues that should
bug me more.
The serial killer has no motivation except that he’s
unemployed. His traps are absurdly elaborate, and it is implausible that any
one man would be able to set them up, let alone wire them to a switchboard in
an underground lair. For that matter, just how many victims does he expect to
come through in the middle of a forest that is mostly prohibited to people? We
get no backstory for Kai, which would not be a problem except that we
eventually learn he has a connection to the serial killer, but we have no idea
why that connection exists. There are at least 3 characters who are left just
standing in the woods alone, their fates never resolved. This is not a
city park – this is a murder forest, and dead or alive we should know their
fates.Lastly, the final act includes a twist that I don’t think is earned,
mostly because we don’t know enough about Sam to understand it.
And all of this would almost certainly bug the heck out of
me. If it was in English.
For some reason, most Americans think of foreign language
films, particular European films, as more sophisticated. It is a long ingrained
prejudice and I can be just as susceptible to it as anyone. So I think on some
level, these significant gaps to me come across not as sloppiness or poor
editing, but as intentional ambiguity that makes the film deeper (something
both praised and damned in It Follows).
I wonder if there is some inner bias, my inner pretentious douchebag, afraid of
lacking the sophistication to grasp the nuance of sublime European cinema, that
wants to the film to be more than it is, rather that it in with American retro-slashers
like Lost After Dark (which is a perfectly fine film itself).
PS: The fine folks at The Last Horrorcast did an episode on Cub that well mirrors my thoughts. Give them a listen!
*That’s a joke. Unbunch your linguistic undies.
