Written and Directed by Quentin Dupieux
Starring Benoît Poelvoorde, Grégoire Ludig and Marc Fraize
Running time: 1 hour and 13 minutes
Available to watch in virtual cinemas Friday, March 5

by Rosalie Kicks, Editor in Chief & Old Sport

“Haphazardly.”

Whenever I watch one of filmmaker Quentin Dupieux’s films, I am reminded that any type of film is possible. It makes me think that there would be an audience out there for my movie about a service that will transform a person into a mannequin because they would rather live that quiet “still life.”

In taking a look at Dupieux’s filmography, one will find it is filled with absolute absurdity. The guy has made flicks about a murderous rubber tire (Rubber), a deerskin jacket with killer style (Deerskin), an enormous fly that two dudes decide to try to domesticate (Mandibles), and a man’s adventure into finding his lost dog that involves telepathy (Wrong). Which brings me to his film from 2018, Keep an Eye Out - a movie just managing to find distribution - a story that I, frankly, found rather tame for the writer/director. 

The story primarily focuses on a police commissioner, Buron (Benoît Poelvoorde) interrogating Louis Fugain (Grégoire Ludig) regarding a corpse that he found outside of his apartment building. Seems rather straightforward, until it is revealed that the suspect happened to leave his home seven times prior to stumbling upon the cadaver. This causes for quite an elaborate tale and with Louis being the epitome of a simpleton (ie a bizarre food incident) if it weren’t for knowing ahead of time that the film was a mere seventy minutes, I would have thought I’d be in for a long night. Dupieux’s quick-witted, unusual stories seem to have become his trademark at this point.

Throughout the swift run time, antics and tomfoolery ensue. Louis is a person that does not exactly think about the consequences of his actions and how it may affect his future. Like leaving your steam iron at the crime scene of a dead body in which the person’s skull was split. This personality trait plays a role when the police commissioner has to step out for a moment, leaving his one-eyed colleague Phillippe (Marc Fraize) tasked to “keep an eye out” on the suspect, Louis. Due to some unfortunate mishaps, this brief encounter does not end well for Phillilppe. It seems that wherever Louis goes, shenanigans follow. The commissioner Buron is also rather quirky, as he allows the questioning to diverge into “hunger stories”, which leads to some hilarious hangry-tales. 

With films like Rubber and Wrong Cops, this is not the first time that Dupieux has had officers of the law as the focus of his stories. Despite the often outlandish situations, the portrayals often sadly ring true: they are nincompoops. What makes this particular story especially fun is the unexpected. As an audience member, you may think you know where the story is headed, but much as the title suggests, it is best to keep an eye out.