The Mother Schmuckers are two nutzoid Belgium brothers who accidentally lose January Jack, their mum’s prized pooch in this gross-out anti-comedy.
Charming in its loose, DIY, low-budget atmosphere and emphasis on wholly irredeemable characters getting themselves into largely filthy and/or inane situations…
Screened as part of NZIFF 2021
Mother Schmuckers 2021
Fils de plouc
Not since the Pope of Trash himself John Waters asked Divine to eat real dog poop on film have filmmakers excreted something intended as pure cine-aggravation, backed by a similarly admirable commitment to infuriate the squares of the critical cinema establishment.
Hyper-manic Belgian duo Harpo and Lenny Guit’s debased super-charged farce aims low at every goose-step. Yet amongst the rancid excesses on display, they manage to inject surprising moments of sweetness into the proceedings, making it one of the most refreshingly oddball cinematic cocktails to ever pollute the silver screen.
Issachar and Zabulon are a pair of unemployable imbecilic man-children who live in a tiny, cramped apartment with their mother, a sex worker who clearly prefers her dog, January Jack, over her cretinous offspring. It’s no wonder that when the two lose her beloved pooch, we are taken along for cinema’s ultimate shaggy-dog quest, encountering the very worst Belgium has to offer along the way – from one excruciating anti-comedy set piece to the next. When stupidity is executed with such aplomb, it transforms into something truly sublime. Viva la Puke, Mother Schmuckers! — AT