The Cars That Ate Paris (1976)

You won't be disappointed!

Fresh and Exciting

Boring

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A movie done in style, all about relations between people, not normal people but where everyone is insane to varying degrees. These insane people try to create a town whose purpose, whilst fulfilling the normal needs is done in an insane fashion. They trap passing motorists at night and run them off the road. Should they survive they handed over to a macabre doctor who lobotomises them with a power tool to become his, experiments. There cars are stripped of any valuables than burned. Any equally disturbed individuals are recognised and kept to become a part of the insane community. To be best enjoyed as art background when suitably intoxicated and quietly partying. A movie clearly done to be enjoyed in this style, as it drifts from sane to insane in the same activity, as moments drift from sense to senseless. A movie that keeps you hanging on the edge of having a plot, of accelerating the story, of having real meaning only to leave you drifting along with it.

Pulling quite a switcheroo on audiences, The Cars That Ate Paris is a film that it is best to be clear about before viewing. This emphatically isn't a crazed barrage of vehicular madness, nor is it set in France. With the goods that the title foretells kept mostly to the final 15 minutes, this is mostly a humorously macabre look at a strange community, an isolated Australian town where mans relationship with the automobile has left what passes for humanity in very much a subservient role. Our nominal hero is Arthur Waldo, survivor of a car crash that kills his brother and newcomer to the quiet community of Paris, whose mayor takes a shine to him. Arthur unfortunately is afraid of cars though, especially where accidents are involved, and his worries begin to get the best of him, not ideal in a place whose economy and source of new citizens comes from cars and car accidents. Plus the youth of Paris are getting restless… With a passive hero and minimal exposition director Peter Weir creates a fascinating and at times disturbing tale, he shows the audience enough to grasp the situation whilst leaving them plenty of intriguing blanks to fill in. He has a great eye for the town, unhurried shots capture neat exteriors, scenes are often largely still and uncluttered, townsfolk quietly going about their business, the presentation gives an ordinary feel that renders the emphasis on cars all the more alluringly strange. We see men, women and children involved, there is a minimum of "regular" conversation, people passing the time of day and such, the whole place is portrayed in powerfully off-balance yet mostly subtle fashion, enhanced by the frequent glimpses or outright gazes at the beautiful surrounding landscape or the sky above. There is some idea of why the town is the way it is from its isolation, but in such a wonderful place, the dark turn they have taken is all the more unsettling. Equally effective if not so detailed treatment is given to the characters here, though most tend to pop in and out without great screen time they make an impression and importantly, come across as organic to the setting. There's Arthur, played dazed and confused by Terry Camilleri, rolling with the punches of his situation, making the best of things whilst conveying constant disturbance, not the most sympathetic of protagonists but does a good job of keeping the audience on their toes. He also handles his personal arc rather well, giving the climax quite a punch. Then there's sinister and mysterious Dr. Midland, creepily essayed by Kevin Miles and Bruce Spence as the aggressive and gallows humoured Charlie. Best of all is The Mayor, a terrific turn from John Meillon. Smoothly menacing, Meillon channels all notions of cheerfully malign authority figures into one outback gentleman, electric stuff and the films greatest boon. The film perhaps lacks a little in forward momentum, scenes pile on top of each other and the course of things is a little random, a little arbitrary. Also, in taking the oblique approach to its goings on the film collects up a number of interesting themes and ideas that aren't really explored to their best advantage. Still, I found this to be a near constantly interesting, often unsettling and ultimately powerful work, well recommended to fans of Australian and cult cinema.

The people of a small Australian village deliberately cause car accidents for out-of-towners passing through so they can profit from looting. One victim survives and the community tries to make him a member, but he unintentionally rekindles what appears to be a feud between the elders and the car-loving youths. Whoa. Huh? What? Right. The Netflix envelope said this was a satire about how much Australians are obsessed with cars (?) and a review I read implied that this film is a metaphor for New Nationalism in the 70s (??) All of that flew over my head. Still I can't say I didn't like Peter Weir's first film, and it works as a decent slow-burn horror. Also, some of the designs on the rebel youth cars were damn nifty.

Before Peter Weir got really famous, he made this strange but worth seeing flick about a small town in Australia whose local economy centers on car wrecks, and how they draw an outsider in. "The Cars That Ate Paris" doesn't star anyone whom you would recognize, and there's no big action scenes here, but that actually gives the movie a more realistic feeling.I should identify that this is not a movie for those with short attention spans. It's not likely to stick heavily in your memory the way that most of Peter Weir's movies do (it's certainly not my favorite of his movies). But still, it's something to check out as a historical reference if nothing else."I can drive!" You'll probably feel like you can too.