News

O Brother, Why Art Thou?: The Guit Bros. Get Down & Out in Bizarre Debut

Something is rotten in the state of Belgium, or so it would seem in the nonsensical and utterly out of control low brow comedy Mother Schmuckers, the debut film from Lenny and Harpo Guit, starring as what seems to be an obnoxious exaggeration of The Three Stooges ilk. Surely, there’s a subsector of cult audiences who adore this kind of humor, and if you’re a fan of items like The Greasy Strangler (2016) or Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie (2012), then by all means, have at it.…...

If you thought the Dardenne brothers were the only game in town when it comes to fraternal auteur duos making unvarnished studies of life on the skids in working-class Belgium, newcomers Harpo and Lenny Guit have at least one surprise in store for you. If you’re thinking of the Dardenne brothers at all, however, the Guits’ blithely grotesque debut feature “Mother Schmuckers” will likely deliver several more.

Attempting to bring a stinky shot of John Waters recklessness to a national cinema that has rarely behaved this badly since “Man Bites Dog,” this mayonnaise-dipped gross-out exercise references “Pink Flamingos” straight off the bat with its opening scene of two adult brothers cooking up a fecal feast in the kitchen. Yet as it hobbles along from one knowingly stupid setpiece to the next, “Mother Schmuckers” mellows out into something more akin to “Dude, Where’s My Car?” — if “mellow” is the word...

Popular French theater director Jean-Christophe Meurisse is making his sophomore film outing with “Bloody Oranges,” a black comedy headlined by Denis Podalydès (“La Belle Epoque”), Blanche Gardin (“Delete History”) and Christophe Paou (“Synonyms”).

Brussels-based outfit Best Friend Forever has acquired international sales rights to the film, which is produced by Rectangle Prods. “(“It Must Be Heaven,” “Climax”) and Mamma Roman.

“Bloody Oranges” marks Meurisse’s follow-up to “Apnee,” which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2016. Meurisse is also a well-known figure in the world of theater, having launched the Chiens de Navarre theater troupe.

“Bloody Oranges” takes place in contemporary France and weaves the stories of a retired couple overwhelmed by debt trying to win a dance contest, a minister of economy who is suspected of tax evasion, a teenage girl coming across a sexual maniac and young lawyer trying to climb the social ladder. When the shoe drops, the...

On the occasion of its 15th investment session, the screen.brussels fund is injecting 1.1 million euros into the production of 13 majority Belgian projects. Among the various feature films supported, we find Chienne de vie, the new film by Xavier Seron who we last saw several years ago, wielding his singular, successful first feature Death by Death. Chiennes de vie consists of three overlapping dog stories which paint a humorous portrait of human beings, with their doubts, their dreams, their loneliness and their search for love. The project has been selected to receive support in the form of a lightweight production grant accorded by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Film and Audiovisual Centre and is produced by Hélicotronc. screen.brussels is also lending aid to Temps Mort by Eve Duchemin, who is signing her...

“All Eyes Off Me,” Hadas Ben Aroya’s drama which will world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, has been acquired by Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever for international sales.

Set to bow in the Panorama section, “All Eyes Off Me” takes place in contemporary Tel Aviv and weaves three stories portraying Tel Aviv’s youth. The plot revolves around Danny who is searching for Max at a party to tell him that she’s pregnant with his child. But Max just started a new relationship with the wild Avishag, who actually has someone else in mind.

The cast of fresh faces and up-and-comers includes Elisheva Weil (“Just For Today”), Leib Lev Levin (“Blackspace”), Yoav Hait and Hadar Katz.

“We fell in love with the film, how it manages to create the portrait of a fascinating woman through the eyes of three different point of view,” said Martin Gondre and Charles Bin,...

The absurd/dark comedy Mother Schmuckers, the first feature film by Belgian brothers Harpo and Lenny Guit, opens with some idiots cooking in a frying pan what appears to be a piece of shit. Although these young brothers, Issachar (Maxi Delmelle) and Zebulon (Harpo Guit himself), assure that it’s merguez. The stink in the kitchen causes their mother (Claire Bodson) to puke directly into the camera, from the vomit comes the greenish title of the movie. With a beginning like this one, it’s easy to know what kind of humor this effort deals with, however, Mother Schmuckers reaches completely unexpected places... and, on more than one occasion, fucked up ones. This is largely due to the Guits' narrative style. From the moment the mother asks the...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

When a person watches a movie as terrible as “Mother Schmuckers,” the natural thing is to examine the seams to see if this awfulness was indeed the point. The movies that turn into this skid almost always fail because there’s no way to capture the earnest magic that resides in the “so-bad-it’s-good” cannon, much in the same way that one can either see Shoeless Joe Jackson in an Iowa cornfield, or they can’t.

Continue reading “Mother Schmuckers” is a Chaotic, Unfocused, Brutally Unfunny Waste of Time [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.

Mother Schmuckers marks the first time a Belgian film is playing in the Midnight section of the Sundance Film Festival. Normally, this section is a great place to find unsettling horror and/or twisted dark comedy, and while the debut film from directing duo Harpo & Lenny Guit delivers both, the problem is that the comedy is, […]

The post ‘Mother Schmuckers’ Review: This Deranged, Belgian Beavis and Butt-Head Flounders in Frenetic Filth [Sundance 2021] appeared first on /Film.

Some movies are slow to reveal themselves, shedding their mysterious tulip petals until nothing is left but the perfect bulb of truth from which the story sprouts. “Mother Schmuckers” — which opens with two bone-stupid adults trying to force-feed their mom a fried pan of human shit until she vomits the film’s title directly onto the camera — is not one of those movies. At just 70 minutes long, it doesn’t have the time.

Then again, you have no idea how long 70 minutes can be. Not until you’ve sat through Harpo and Lenny Guit’s feature debut, Ultimately, it betrays those influences in favor of something that feels more like a Dardenne brothers remake directed by Jake and Logan Paul (and would even if “Young Ahmed” star Claire Bodson wasn’t cast as the titular schmuckered mother).

The world is still wide enough to make room for cinema that celebrates...

In their debut feature film, directing duo Harpo and Lenny Guit craft a narrative unlike any other. Mother Schmuckers (Fils de Plouc in their native French) opens by flinging the audience helplessly into an obscene sequence involving a frying pan full of feces, and what follows manages to become far more vile. The film chronicles the exploits of dim siblings Issachar (Maxi Delmelle) and Zabulon (Harpo Guit), a pair of man-children that would give every single Adam Sandler incarnation a run for his money. The wretched pair spends their time cavorting around Brussels making one scenario of mischief to the next, without giving themselves, or the audience, much time to breathe in between. And while Mother Schmuckers may hit a sweet spot for fans of the delightfully vulgar and distasteful, it reads mostly as a film aiming only to provoke.

The plot is as follows: while out searching haplessly for something to eat,...

Starting today, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival gives us a first glimpse at the year in cinema, and this year it’s available to a wider audience than ever before in virtual form. With many tickets still available, we’re now providing our yearly trailer round-up for those interested in a preview of the lineup.

Ahead of our coverage, bookmark this page for a continually-updated round-up of trailers and clips, kicking off with Taming the Garden, A Glitch in the Matrix, Land, The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, Life in a Day 2020, and more.

Check out the trailers (and clips) below thus far in alphabetical order and we’ll be published reviews soon, so follow along here.

Coming Home in the Dark (James Ashcroft)

The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet (Ana Katz)

Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen)

A Glitch in the Matrix (Rodney Ascher)

In the Same Breath (Nanfu Wang...

"Did you lose him?" Clubb Guitos has revealed the first official trailer for Mother Schmuckers, a wacky new Belgian comedy premiering at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival this month. The film screens in the Midnight category, and marks the feature directorial debut of two Belgian brothers - Harpo Guit & Lenny Guit. In the film, Issachar and Zabulon, two brothers in their 20s, are supremely stupid and never bored, as madness is part of their daily lives. When they lose their mother's beloved dog, they have 24 hours to find it - or she will kick them out. "Defying traditional labels, Mother Schmuckers doesn't take itself too seriously. Instead, the hilarious observations the brothers make about life and family relationships elevate everyday occurrences. A refreshing piece of filmmaking, their fun, funny and unapologetic style, is a rare and much needed gift in these uncertain times." The film stars Harpo Guit, Maxi Delmelle, Claire Bodson,...

While the Sundance Film Festival won’t take place in person in Park City this year, that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of reasons to be excited for the virtual edition kicking off January 28. One such acquisition title heating up the fest is “Mother Schmuckers,” the first Belgian film ever to play in the Sundance Midnight section. This jittery buddy comedy about two incorrigible brothers still living with their mother in Brussels has, according to sales agent Best Friend Forever, echoes of “Jackass” and John Waters. Check out the trailer, exclusive to IndieWire, below.

“Mother Schmuckers” is the feature debut of brothers Harpo and Lenny Guit, who wrote and directed the film. Here’s the synopsis from the Sundance Film Festival:

Two low-down, rotten brothers named Issachar and Zabulon are starving and can’t seem to scrounge up a meal anywhere. Things only get worse when they lose...

Bruce Labruce’s queer comedy fantasy “Saint-Narcisse” has been sold by the Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever to the U.S., along with a string of other key territories.

Film Movement has acquired U.S. rights to “Saint-Narcisse,” which was the closing film of Venice’s Giornate Degli Autori (Venice Days) and played as part of Toronto’s Industry Selects.

Best Friend Forever has also scored deals for France (Optimale Distribution), Germany, Austria and Switzerland (OUTtv – Cinemien Germany) and Benelux (OUTtv – Cinemien). Northern Banner and Az Films will release the film in Canada.

Set in 1972 Canada, “Saint-Narcisse” follows Dominic, a handsome narcissistic young man who discovers the existence of his twin brother, living in a remote monastery led by a depraved priest. Dominic sets out to save him and reunite once and for all. The two beautiful, identical brothers are soon embroiled in a strange web of sex, revenge and redemption.