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Say what you want about Guy Maddin, the “pride of Winnipeg,” but he stays true to his vision. He is a little bit too idiosyncratic for the average cinemagoer, but his cinema is unique, brutally honest, and cheap. There’s a healthy group of dedicated followers who connect, almost spiritually, with Maddin’s sense of humour. Me, I’m not a fan. I respect Maddin’s vision and, in a way, am jealous of those who can bond with him.

Rumors is the type of political satire only Maddin could make. Far-fetched but funny, bizarre but entertaining. He’s so into his metaphors that, at a certain point, a character boldly questions the meaning of everything happening. So detached from reality, it could be a short film that went on a bit too long, a fever dream materialised on screen, or a strange idea that kept going.

The story starts at a G7 meeting in Germany where the world leaders of the democratic world are meeting to discuss the world’s future, or in this case, a draft of a provisional statement. There’s the Chancellor of Germany (Cate Blanchett), the Presidents of the United States (Charles Dance), Italy (Rolando Ravello) and France (Denis Ménochet), and the Prime Ministers of Japan (Takehiro Hira), the United Kingdom (Nikki Amuka-Bird) and Canada (Roy Dupuis).

During lunch, they discuss platitudes and behave exactly like the idea each of them would – the Italian is confused, and no one takes him seriously; the French talks in vapid philosophical terms and is particular about the wine being served; you get the gist. It’s like the setup of an extended joke- a German, an Italian, a French, a British, an American, a Canadian, and a Japanese leader are having lunch inside a gazebo.

As time passes, they waste time working on their statement using the most vague and ineffectual terms when they quickly realise no one else is around– no waiters, no staff. Instead, a thick fog engulfs the forest, and a horde of zombie bog people rises from the ground. There’s also a large glowing brain somewhere in the forest, which the leader of the European Union (Alicia Vikander) idolises with the utmost religious devotion.

Maddin constructs the plot with the giddiness of an unhinged anarchist. Every detail and every joke has a (not so) deeper meaning that correlates to a surface-level understanding of world politics. It’s a world where politicians are not the brightest people in the room, just the most tenacious. They are petty and easily distracted. Children, really. A whole subplot revolves around an affair between the Canadian and the British Prime Minister, and it’s told like they’re talking about signing an agreement between the two countries. It is not exactly a complicated metaphor as much as a meta-funny joke.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. The film’s energy is funny and contagious, reminds me of that one short in Miguel Gomes’ seminal Arabian Nights where the IMF and European Central Bank leaders meet to fix the GFC but get lured by a genie that offers them a spell to give them constant orgasms instead. Maddin definitely watched Gomes’ film. That segment and this feature share very similar DNA and worldviews, with the difference being one is a short charming skit, and the other is a feature that risks running too long.

Maddin’s message is heard loud and clear, but I suspect he doesn’t see much about it apart from a cynical disbelief in our status quo. He offers no solutions or relevant points. The bog people, who viciously masturbate until they explode (yes, that happens), are a tenuous metaphor to us – slogging zombies who barely threaten politicians, but to a minor inconvenience, and find gratification in their words even if it kills us. The first time we see them in “that” action, many are gathered around a bonfire, looking at the flickering flames, like people in a cinema watching the flickering moving lights. Get it? We’re all dumb. Even you. Not Guy Maddin, though. He’s seen through the swamp and found humour on the other end.

Verdict: 3 out of 5
For that young anarcho-communist teen who hates the establishment before reading the theory.