Nightstream: Mother Schmuckers (2021)

MOTHER SCHMUCKERS (2021)

Dir. Harpo Guit and Lenny Guit

Belgian brothers Harbo and Lenny Guit deliver a high-octane sprint through modern Brussells. The directing duo have created the characters of Issachar and Zabulon who create chaos wherever they go. Our opening scene features the brothers daring one another to eat fried sh*t burgers, “They’re organic.” Their mother, Cachemire, enters the kitchen, lured by the awful smell. When she realizes her sons have made fecal patties, she throws up. Inside her vomit we find our title card. The rest of the film skips from one comedic interlude to another at a breakneck pace, with the thinnest string of a plot never getting in the way.

From the onset, the film looks akin to a French remake of Dumb & Dumber (1994). By the end of the film, one can still make the comparison; however, the dark comedy would lend itself more to a Gaspar Noe version of Harold and Lloyd’s adventures. The two morons of the film begin with a hunger that will drive their quest. They’re broke and on a mission for food, unfortunately they lose the family dog, January Jack, along their way. If they cannot find him and return him home, mom’s going to kick them out. We should have known from the fried sh*t and puke title card that there’d be no area too taboo for this film. I admit I didn’t adhere to the warning signs.

There’s an absurdist music video in the middle of the film for a song called, “Who Put Me In This Well?” It is bizarre and acts as the only reprieve from the other madness it's sandwiched between. Within the film’s 70 minute runtime we are all onlookers to depravity. But it is done with such foolishness, it never feels mean. Our duo shoots a homeless man in the hand, a penis is bitten off, a group of dudes roll a car over, necrophilia, bestiality, indentured sex work, and fart jokes.

The film moves quickly through each taboo tableaux, never giving the audience or the characters in this world enough time to react. This works to the film’s favor as the two never face consequences for their disturbing deeds. Between the literal running throughout the city in search of a dog or lost mother, frantic hand-held camera work, and quick editing, the whole endeavor is over way too soon. Directors, Harpo and Lenny Guit would make their icons like John Waters happy. It is apparent that they are seeking approval from shock cinema of yesteryear, especially when they begin their film with sh*t-eating. Is it to say that this film begins where Pink Flamingos (1972) left off? The biggest difference between the two is that the families in Pink Flamingos compete for filthiest people alive while brothers Issachar and Zabulon are clueless to their depravity. Perhaps that makes it worse, but either way, it makes a for an entertaining watch.