A gigantic brain in a forest, masturbating bog zombies, Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander and Charles Dance all collide in Guy Maddin’s audacious latest film.

The G7, led by German chancellor Hilda Ortmann (Blanchett), have descended on a remote retreat to draft a do-nothing communiqué that passes the buck on a looming ecological catastrophe. Only it’s too late for their inaction: it appears the apocalypse is already here. As strange creatures awaken all around them, Hilda must corral her fellow exasperatingly hopeless world leaders – including the Swedish secretary-general of the European Commission (Vikander) and the presidents of the USA (Dance) and France (Denis Ménochet, Beau Is Afraid) – on a wild goose chase into the woods.

Maddin (The Forbidden Room, MIFF 2015) once again joins forces with co-director siblings Evan and Galen Johnson (The Green Fog, MIFF 2018), delivering a fever dream of resigned dismay at a global political class that seems as unable as it is unwilling to offer solutions. Blanchett, Vikander and the rest of the cast keep the audience rapt as they bring their A-game – unlike the ineffectual characters they play – to this explosively topical satire. A bittersweet hit at this year’s Cannes, Rumours delivers witty and wildly existential laughs.

“Effortlessly hilarious and deceptively thought-provoking … Maddin pulls an exceptional trick, crafting characters we care about even while we gleefully root for their demise.” – RogerEbert.com

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