FAQ – frequently asked questions

The questions I asked myself most frequently watching this movie on DVD was;

• What is this? What do they want to tell me?
• Why have they made this movie?
• And who is that man with the mask and the tube between his face and his crotch?

The story – if you could call it that – takes place in Paris, Europe, a few years in the future. Europe is ruled by a mysterious sisterhood called Metacontrol. The society is strongly maternal and a voice over the all-over speaker system urges all men to respect women and not make any foul suggestions in any way.

We are introduced to Angeline who works in a strange laboratory where rare and almost extinct species are collected in large jars with formaldehyde. They seem to get in specimens from all over to their creepy collection. In the building where she lives we also meet Nono, a man without any other interests than recording the sound (?) of cockroaches suffocating in sugar and watching strange TV programs (or web casts). It’s by the way the most low tech television set ever to be seen in a science fiction movie.

There also seems to be some sort of an underground network of men making conspiracies against the sisterhood. But their mission and ways of work seems very bad organised.

Other things from the film? The sisters drink milk. Angelina finds out she has feelings for Nono. The sisterhood blows up the Eiffel tower, in a very poor explosion scene. (After Die Hard 4.0 most explosions seem poor.)

If you look for meaning and some interesting points, there could be some about the poor state the environment and the society is in after thousands of years with paternal governance. But I can’t see how the sisterhood improves anything.
An other point could be the efforts made by the sisterhood in order to suppress feelings between men and women, without success.

But any such attempts fail because you sit and watch a movie you suspect is mocking you as a spectator; You idiot – who spend 82 minutes of your precious time here on earth watching this crap!

What really is a mystery is that this movie has been chosen to official programs at film festivals in both Seattle, Toronto, Lyon and several other places. They must have seen something I obviously missed.

Reviewed by Hiro

Movie facts

Title: FAQ – frequently asked questions

Director: Carlos Atanes

With Anne Céline Auche, Xavier Tort, Marta Timón, Manel Solás

Producing company: Fort Knox Audiovisual

Movie website: www.faqthemovie.com

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