My first outing of the 2012 East End Film Festival took place yesterday afternoon as I attended the press screening of Jean-Baptiste Léonetti's bleak dystopian drama Carré Blanc. Set in a gloomy world covered in speakers pumping out muzak and friendly words of encouragement, Leonetti's story follows Phillipe as he struggles to hold onto his marriage whilst maintaing his superior position in a brutal caste system.
Disturbing and also darkly humorous the films strength lies in the fact that it could all too easily be our own society as opposed to the steam-punk or un-recognisably sci-fi world normally associated with this genre. The general population drive Ford cars and do their best to survive a variety of humiliating tasks in order to progress in their banal office jobs. However, from the outset there is a simmering brutality and hopelessness woven into peoples lives that sees those too "weak" to better themselves on the margins, taking their own lives and ultimately disposed of via a faceless food conglomerate that feeds their remains back to those still living.
Although I felt some aspects of the plot could have benefited from a little more explanation the sparse style of the narrative does generally work well with the cold cinematography and angular concrete environment to deliver a frighteningly believable drama. All in all definitely worth a watch if you get the chance.