21/02/2023 - BERLINALE 2023: John Trengove’s sophomore feature is a rather confused but entertaining tale revolving around a sect of incels for whom things go badly awry

Jesse Eisenberg in Manodrome

Without mincing words, South African director John Trengove’s Manodrome [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is quite a chaotic movie. This chaos, however, is entertaining and engaging for the most part, but also a good example of how easy it is to lose focus when it comes to writing a story packed with too many different themes and cinematic styles. Bowing in the main competition of this year’s Berlinale, the picture follows the vicissitudes of Ralphie (a bizarre, red-haired, dead-eyed Jesse Eisenberg), a young man who tries to get by as an Uber driver and lives in a tiny flat with his pregnant girlfriend, a cashier called Sal (Odessa Young). From the beginning, Ralphie already seems rather alienated and angered by the society he lives in, and his girlfriend’s unexpected pregnancy is apparently the main reason for his concerns. The first scene introduces the story’s main conflict perhaps too openly, as we see Ralphie driving one of his customers as she breastfeeds her child. The man’s insistent gaze scares her, and she asks Ralphie to stop the car and let her out.

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An avid visitor to the gym, Ralphie seems to be on friendly terms with at least one person, Jason (Philipp Ettinger). The latter provides him with some steroids to improve his athletic performance and sculpt his body, with which the former is fairly obsessed. Jason finds out the hardships that Ralphie is going through and invites him to meet with a sect of fervent misogynists – best known in contemporary culture as “incels” – who will dramatically shake up his life and vision of the world.

The sect is led by Dan (Adrien Brody), who imbues his role with a strange mix of levity and aggressivity, making him both a scary and a fun character to watch. Dan pushes Ralphie to leave his girlfriend and to move in together with the other “sons” and “dads” of the titular order. Here, what may not convince viewers is how quickly Ralphie enters a downward spiral, having perhaps too few motives to hate his girlfriend so much and abandon her together with her child. From that moment on, Trengove’s script becomes increasingly chaotic and absurd, requiring a huge dose of suspension of disbelief, which not all spectators may be prepared for. Thus, most of the logical cause-and-effect dynamics are scrapped, making Ralphie’s actions – as well as those of a few other characters – more and more brainless.

The final result is, to some extent, a captivating pastiche made up of thriller, psychological drama and surreal comedy tropes, filled with crazy twists and turns. This hodgepodge may be amusing or fascinating to some, but frustrating to others. That being said, viewers certainly should not expect a serious treatment of any of the themes this movie aims to broach.

Trengove ultimately doesn’t head in any firm direction until the end. Instead, he decides to inhabit this confusion, opening and closing new “situations” abruptly and wrapping up the tale with a predictably over-the-top ending.

Manodrome was produced by US-based Felix Culpa and the UK’s Liminal Content. CAA Media Finance is in charge of its world sales.

Photogallery 18/02/2023: Berlinale 2023 - Manodrome

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John Trengove, Sallieu Sesay, Philip Ettinger, Odessa Young, Adrien Brody, Jesse Eisenberg
© 2023 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it