Folies Passagères DVD Review

Folies Passagères is a collection of short films by Montreal film maker, Izabel Grondin, from 1994 to 2005.

Ruben is not Well introduces us to a dress maker and his dark, claustrophobic world. Unfortunately there are no English subtitles for this one and Je ne parle pas français bien, so I understood little of the dialogue.

Terrore is about a young couple, Nathalie Matteau and Martin Plouffe, who are the survivors of some untold horror in a country cottage. They are relentlessly pursued, in a Raimiesque manner, by a maniacal murderer with razor teeth. With great photography and an effective soundtrack, Terrore left me wanting more.

Aspiralux is the story of a young door-to-door salesman, Martin Plouffe, trying hard to sell the Aspiralux vacuum cleaner to uninterested home owners. He's taken by surprise when an elderly man he visits is very keen and invites him in to help him deal with his dust balls. He takes Martin to see the carpet, which is actually a door mat, and while he demonstrates his machinery, he knocks him out. Martin awakes to find himself chained in a cage and is about to be tormented by the deranged customer. Shot in black and white, Aspiralux shows a darker, grittier side to Izabel's work. It's an uncompromising short, very well acted and presents an interesting twist by using a man instead of the usual female victim.

In Click Here, the porn loving protagonist (once again, Martin Plouffe) is merrily bashing the bishop to nastyxxx.com when he gets a knock on the door. Two stocking clad vixens enter and show him a rough time, but things begin to look bleak when he starts to vomit green puke.

The jewel in this collection for me is Les Drujes. Two rather lovely vampires call at a house after their car breaks down. The owner lets them in to use the phone and they are welcomed to a party that is going on at the house. Being Vampires, it's not long before one of them takes a bite out of one of the party goers. Les Drujes is an extremely classy short film. Everything about it oozes quality, from the lighting and camera work to the acting, it's a very polished, professional piece of film making.

Also included on the dvd is a documentary featuring interviews with this intelligent, adroit and beautiful young film maker. Definately one to watch. S.J.T.