"Ex Drummer" by Koen Mortier could be described as a major update of the tradition started by Benoit Poelvoorde's masterpiece "C'est arrivé pres de chez vous".

It is the story of three handicapped social outcasts who dream of becoming famous and therefore asking a famous writer to become the drummer of their band. After some initial hesitation - they smell awful, look like a bunch of retards and so on - the writer decides to join the band. He thinks there might be a story in it. In what follows, we join the band members in their extreme lives dealing with drug abuse, Alzheimer's, marital problems, neglected children, aggression and consented anal rape by a guy with a 20 inch dick (only to name a few events).

In their quest for fame the band members seem to tolerate an awful lot from the writer. He immediately takes control of the band and interferes with their personal life. He is always looking for a good story and will stop at nothing to inflict even more wounds.

The film is full of what seems to be explicit sex and gratuitous depictions violence, so it is definitely hard to watch for the faint of heart. There also is no way you won't be offended in one way or another by this film. Dealing blows to the handicapped, gays, gay bashers, the marginalized, and women and men in general it doesn't spare a single minority, special interest group or human being. Looking back on it, the sex and violence is rather essential to understand to a fuller extent the raw and miserable lives of the characters.

The film has a great visual flair, which I think is part due to the wonderful art direction, but also great visual effects and direction. It is amazing how they could do all this on such a tight budget. Because the film is about a rock band the music is also very important. The film features the music of some of Belgium's finest: Millionaire. Their noisy stoner vibes integrate well in the story.

Coming out of the theater I was filled with a strange combination of disgust and fulfillment. This film is not for everyone, but it is a nice effort to make this kind of raw film in Belgium. a film which, according to some, makes "Trainspotting" look like a children's program.

For the portion of Herman Brusselmans's oeuvre I've read, the movie gave me quite the same feelings as his books. Is that a good thing? It is if you like the man's early work. It shares the very cynical humorous comments the protagonist dispenses in reaction to the other character's actions, as well as his patronizing lecturing towards the young attractive females.

None of the characters are even remotely likable. They're antisocial, immoral sometimes even homicidal ugly bastards and bitches. A normal conversation between them is simply impossible, insults and curses galore. At times it can get a bit cartoonesque.

Is it funny? Yes. Well, funny crude. Everything is quite over the top: the nudity, the violence and especially the music, which saves the film for a great deal. The soundtrack is an amalgam of Belgian and international noise rock, with some softer tracks to ease the pace.

I found it 90 minutes well spent, even if it dragged on a bit too long in the end.

"Ex Drummer" is the first (at least, to my knowledge) adaptation of a novel written by Herman Brusselmans. That name might not ring many bells on a worldwide basis, but over here in our small and beloved Belgium country, he's an infamous and hugely eccentric media figure. Brusselmans could be described best as an Artistic Anarchist, in appearance as well as in behavior and ideals. His face looks like it's under a permanent influence of drugs, he probably hasn't cut or washed his hair since the late 60's and when he's attending a TV talk or game show he usually ends up insulting the host and the audience. Just in case you're interested in having a friendly chat with Brusselmans, look for the darkest and most rancid bars in the Flemish part of Belgium and you'll probably find him there, sitting within a cloud of cigarette smoke and behind a bunch of emptied beer bottles. Needless to say Brusselmans' books are as extraordinary as the author himself; meaning rather rather low on substance and narrative structure but very rich on provocative statements, politically incorrect opinions and controversial themes. The novel "Ex Drummer", and consequently the film as well, is actually just a relentless observation of Belgian society, through the eyes of a cynical self-acclaimed intellect, which spares absolutely nothing or nobody. Anyone who watches this film will presumably find something that personally offends him/her, as the script mocks homosexuals, handicapped persons (physically as well as mentally), people of lower social classes, immigrants, musicians, politicians, feminists and actually just men & women in general.

The main storyline revolves on three losers living in Ostend, a popular Belgian city by the coast. They want to form a rock band to participate in a local talent contest, but they haven't got a drummer yet and therefore approach Dries, who's the narrator and sort of represents the semi-biographical version of Herman Brusselmans himself. The band's singer is a hyperactive misogynist who beats up women for entertainment and only finds affection in the arms of the bald and elderly mother of one of the other band members, the bass player is gay and keeps his sickly father tied down in his bedroom and the deaf & aggressive guitarist totally neglects his one-year-old daughter but blames his stoned wife when she eats the content of her own diaper and dies. If you think these characters are demented, just wait until you meet some of the supportive ones! One of the band's competitors is appropriately named 'big cock' and he proudly demonstrates the impact of his enormous manhood by forcing his wife to show off her ruined vagina. The gay roadies enjoy spreading AIDS through unsafe sex and at one point (the highlight?) the film even glorifies pedophilia and incest, as there's a young woman on the constant lookout for a man who can give her the same sexual satisfaction her father did when she was six years old. So… in case all this sound controversial enough for you, welcome to Belgium!

"Ex Drummer" isn't the best but definitely one of the most unique films I've ever seen. If I really must compare this movie to others, I'd say combine the shocking themes & trashy filming styles of "Irreversible", "Trainspotting", "Kids", "Ken Park" and "The Doom Generation". Then, multiply the result by ten and you can form yourself an idea of the shock 'n trash level featuring in "Ex Drummer". Of course, if you put it like that, it doesn't sound like the most accessible film and it certainly won't increase tourism for Belgium any time soon, but rest assured "Ex Drummer" is also a tremendously fun and amusing picture! Especially if you don't have any morals or don't care too much about human emotions, the dialogs and monologues are often laugh-out-loud funny and ingenious. The swearing and insulting becomes even more hysterical since every character talks in his/her own personal dialect and doesn't hesitate to emphasize his/her opinions by showing off intimate body parts. Near the end the film even more becomes a true & genuine exploitation flick, with bloody splatter and gory massacres.

Purely talking from a more technical point of view, "Ex Drummer" naturally isn't your average by-the-numbers cinematic accomplishment, neither. The cinematography and editing are extremely chaotic and even the calmest human beings will get nervous from seeing some of the visual camera-tricks featuring in this movie, like entire sequences shot backwards and characters that almost exclusively appear on the screen upside-down. Like a friend of mine appropriately said, watching "Ex Drummer" must have the same effect as licking a poisonous toad and experience a nearly two hours lasting acid-trip. Director Koen Mortier obviously worships novelist Herman Brusselmans and blindly processes his writing style into the film without adding too much of his own trademarks. Not that it's really necessary to add anything, as the film is already hectic enough as it is. Considering it's fundamentally a movie about a rock band, the film has a heavy soundtrack (Mongoloid! Mongoloid!) and very rough sound effects. Don't even think about watching it if you're already suffering from a headache or migraine. Here's the hoping the film soon becomes available for trash-lovers and sick cinema puppies all around the globe. If not, move to Belgium and witness for yourself how messed up we are.