When watching the independent film Wrong, you are bound to question Director/Cinematographer/Editor/Composer/Human Swiss Army Knife Quentin Dupieux’s mentality when crafting a film. Only someone entirely deranged could consider a palm tree randomly transforming into a pine tree a necessary plot device for a movie about a man with a lost dog. Maybe Dupieux’s genius is merely misunderstood, as it takes a great amount of effort to make a cohesive film out of a plethora of avant-garde elements. A long length of time on independent film forums is likely to be spent debating these two sides of the argument regarding Dupieux’s cinematic skill. It’s also worth mentioning that the majority of the reviews for this film are divided between viewers who didn’t think of Wrong as a film, and those who enjoyed the film’s artistic, unrestricted weirdness. Dupieux claims that his films are merely patchwork creations from random ideas that appear in his head, and that they are meant to be interpreted differently by each individual viewer. He has also stated that Wrong is a very easy film to hate if viewed with a cynical mindset. Therefore, for an optimal viewing experience, Wrong must be watched open-mindedly with few preconceived notions, and on Mars whilst playing table tennis with a penguin. Now, with that out of the way, let’s begin the review.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus was well known for using the phrase “And now for something completely different … ” as a transition to a new skit, usually entirely unrelated to the previous one. Wrong might be an homage to this. The film opens with a group of firefighters sitting and gazing at a flaming van without making any effort to put it out, accompanied by eerie, electronic sounds. After the opening credits roll, protagonist Dolph awakens at 7:60 a.m. to meet the realization that his canine friend is missing. The first 15 minutes or so have him calling a pizza place to question their logo and talking to a strange neighbor whom refuses to admit that he is a jogger and has the intention of driving to the edge of the planet. This foray into the film is confusing without context, and difficult to follow. My hopes had lowered a bit by this point, but I believe that feeling was entirely planned. By the time you expect the film to be an awfully abstract drone, it gradually redeems itself. After the protagonist’s gardner, Victor, shows Dolph that his tree has undergone a strange metamorphosis, and Victor pretends to be Dolph in order to get a date with his newly-introduced promiscuous pizza deliverer, Dolph finds out through a partially burnt, caucasian man dubbed Master Chang with an indecipherable accent, that his dog was kidnapped by a corporation dedicated to stealing pets in order for their owners to better appreciate them once they are returned. This film has many strange, seemingly-intertwined occurrences, leaving you to hypothesize where the plot is to go, and continue to throw such connections out of the window as you watch.

If nothing else, Wrong is original and moving, in all the ways you wouldn’t expect. It’s a bit obscure, very funny, without an abundance of one-liners, and great if you have the patience and time to dissect it. If I were to rate it out of the traditional 5-star rating scale, I’d give it a 4.275234976. That seems fitting.