Movie Review: "Like A Dirty French Novel" (2021)
Like A Dirty French Novel Movie Review
Written by Stuart D. Monroe
Released by October Coast
Directed by Mike Cuenca
Written by Mike Cuenca, Ashlee Elfman, and Dan Rojay
2021, 78 minutes, Not Rated
Premiered on August 28th at Dances With Films film festival
Starring:
Robby Valls as Hue
Jennifer Daley as Crystal
Amanda Viola as Lane
Brittany Samson as Esma
Grant Moninger as Foster Dooley / Bugs Dooley
Aaron Bustos as Jake Romero
Laura Urgelles as The Caller
Miles Dougal as Nelson
Review:
You’re immediately going to grab my attention with the tagline “between the absurd and the vulgar”. That’s my sweet spot. It’s a place where linear narrative matters much less than your ability to affect my lizard brain with a vibe, symbology, and color palette that leaves an afterimage. Or if you’d like to simplify it further you’ll just come back around to style versus substance, and every film fan sits somewhere on that spectrum. Like A Dirty French Novel is absolutely one of those films that blows the doors off with how many pieces of flair it has on, but isn’t overly concerned with the placement or sentiment of all the assorted buttons and pins.
Like A Dirty French Novel is a grindhouse noir that’s equal parts anthology, pandemic-themed stream of consciousness, and intentionally disorienting fever dream. It follows the inexplicably intertwined lives of a horny as hell phone operator, estranged twin brothers of wildly different circumstances, an estranged couple trapped in a living hell rent trap, an extreme comic fan, and the femme fatal hero she worships. If that sounds convoluted, that’s because it is.
Trust me here when I tell you there’s nothing wrong with that, though.
Like A Dirty French Novel makes the style v. substance debate seem a bit silly because the style is so on-point during the 78-minute runtime. The opening is pure horror roots with the wonderfully grainy moonlight meeting and giallo title credits. Sinister shit is afoot. Then, you’re getting to know a broken-up couple who are forced to continue living together during the pandemic of 2020. It’s a jarring twist and indicative of the anti-linear narrative. The thing that doesn’t change is Mike Cuenca and company’s commitment to giving you a sleazy, sweaty, dangerous, captivating experience.
That being said, the heart of the story lies with the estranged couple, Hue (Robby Vallls) and Crystal (Jennifer Daley; Casual). Of all the interweaving stories, theirs follows the most logical thread and has the best dynamic chemistry. While no one is going to confuse Like A Dirty French Novel with a deep human drama, there are moments where the universal human anguish we’re all feeling during this very real pandemic came through and could have been explored further. But as the super cool spiral crawl during the opening credits tells you, “The stories you are about to see are not about the pandemic, but are a result of its social disruption.”
That word, disruption…it’s important.
Broken into a bang-up prologue, five main chapters, and two interludes, Like A Dirty French Novel is the prodigously artistic illegitimate child of anthology and grindhouse. I’d appreciate seeing Mike Cuenca dig into this style again with an eye towards the extreme, but that’s just the gorehound in me wanting to see the blood really flow. The quicksand bit, for example, really didn’t work all that well, but with a solid SFX budget? Next level stuff.
With an aesthetic that flashes influences from A Clockwork Orange to early David Lynch, Like A Dirty French Novel is a film that rewards the adventurous film fan while infuriating all the plot-driven obsessives. Substance be damned; the style is going to rule the day here as Mike Cuenca should turn quite a few more heads in his direction.
Grade:
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
