Rumours

In this wildly entertaining satire from co-directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, the leaders of the G7 nations — the US, Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, and the UK — stumble into a surreal scene and are left to their own (inept) devices to get themselves out.

Rumours is ribald, playful, and an expansion of the Maddin-Johnson-Johnson oeuvre. The trademark oddities, like a glowing brain and bog people, are there; there’s a brief foray into black and white; and it was partly filmed in Winnipeg.

Co-produced by Ari Aster among others, it was also filmed in Hungary, with a stand-out international cast. Cate Blanchett is German chancellor Hilda, the host of the gathering; Roy Dupuis is the passionate Canadian prime minister; UK Prime Minister Cardosa Dewindt (Nikki Amuka-Bird) doggedly tries to keep this ragtag group on task, and, inexplicably, English actor Charles Dance keeps his accent as the president of the United States.

The G7 leaders are so lost in working on a provisional statement filled with platitudes and nonsense and addressing an unnamed crisis, that they don’t realize they’ve been abandoned by their servers. It’s only then, when the cameras and aides have left, that things really go off the rails and each of their shortcomings comes glaringly into focus.

KELLY BOUTSALIS

Content advisory: sexual content, coarse language