3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): Family Pack

2024,  François Uzan (On sourit pour la photo) -- Netflix

Also called, Loups-Garous, and why couldn't they have just translated the title directly and called it Werewolves ?? I mean, the whole premise of the movie is mashing up Jumanji (the game) with Werewolf (the game). Anywayz...

"I want something fluffy to watch," she says.

"How about a French werewolf - time travel comedy family film?" I suggest. Just saying that out loud makes me want to retroactively turn it off, but... we went with it.

Without any setup at all, we are in the living room of Gilbert Vassier (Jean Reno, My Penguin Friend), with his son Jérôme (Franck Dubosc, Cat and Dog) and his family, his new family, made up of his kid from his first marriage, her kid from her first marriage and the daughter they have had together. Gilbert is suffering some memory issues and the family is trying to spend some time with him in his home, before things have to change. 

I say "no setup" because we are just <poof> there not explaining that his cottage is outside Paris nor a really old family cottage, from as far back as medieval times. Also, the game of Werewolf they are trying to play is apparently something really old that Gilbert found hidden in the attic -- its ornate, of carved wood, with intricate playing pieces and Gilbert is just making up the rules as he goes along. Likely he played Mafia and is applying the same sort of rules, but in this game there are key characters such as The Witch, the Thief, the Hunter, etc. No sooner do they lay down some pieces, then there is some shaking and a flash.

They wake up in the same cottage but... its older, like medieval older. Middle Ages? I am not playing that game (I am -- Renaissance). And thus begins an American style screwball comedy full of utterly inane lines like, "What did you do with your house? Why is it all old?" but enough charm to keep us watching it. Again, likening it to an American comedy, the movie seems edited/butchered within an inch of its life. For example, there is a scene where they see a knight on horseback, and he charges at them, only to bounce off a shimmering bubble. "Oh, we have not time travelled, " says the teenage son, "We are in the game!" which is a neat idea, allowing one to play with the expectations of what can happen, what is nonsensical vs historical. But they almost immediately throw that out and they are indeed "in the past", but still having to follow the rules of the game and reveal who the werewolves are in order to escape the game / the past. The bubble never comes back into play again.

Eventually through the Power of Family they figure out what to do, who the werewolves are, dispatch a couple offscreen (family friendly!), bump into a random gay Italian inventor/artist, try to kick-start feminism, squabble and fight with each other, but finally pull together to defeat the final werewolf and his collaborators. When they return to the 21st century we see it was indeed time travel, for no good reason ever explained (why is there a magic game? what was the point of it all?) and see some ramifications of catching the eye of random Italian painter who, in the final scenes, admits his name was not Piero but Leonardo, and that he has a thing for Jérôme, and a certain famous painting is no longer about Lisa.

Of course, we have seen hundreds of American screwball family comedies, but part of me is tempted to see what the rest of the world does as examples. Sure, that hasn't worked out so well with horror, as my interest in what "is different" was supplanted by the often opaque cultural references that distract from my enjoyment of the horror, but it could be ... interesting/torturous? Gawds, imagine ending up watching each country's version of Rob Schneider.

There is a challenging train of thought emerging because of the last paragraph, where I strain about my lack of enjoyment from certain "foreign" horror movies. Am I attracted to "the different" in only small doses, or do I need enough of the "Western" connection to ascribe to the movie? Often the tropes I dislike in a non-Western movie, for example the heavy-handed family drama of Indonesian films, are also very apparent in familiar American films, but I understand the cultural structure and accept. Or maybe its just the examples I have watched are... not very good? Good in relation to horror movies is very subjective and what one audience LOVES in a horror movie is often not at all what I want, even in the West. But how well do certain standards to horror (and comedy) carry over from culture to culture?

Probably should have left that train of thought to October, maybe make a theme of exploring my ponderings for 2025.