Written by Julien Ivanowich and Christoph Marcillac and directed by Julien Ivanowich, ‘Ultimate Chabite‘ is a story of four friends whose silly game spirals out of control, ensuing mass panic over the eradication of manhood, and potential societal collapse. The film stars Léonie Langlart, Enisor Gayon, Romain Losi, Bruce Lalande, and Elena Bru. Chabite is a game of tag in which participants have to strike each other on the genitals and with ‘Ultimate Chabite’, Ivanowich manages to take this premise and put it on steroids. The film, thus, manages to engage and impress in a myriad of ways. If the premise seems outlandish, it is the way in which writer Marcillac and director Ivanowich go about that makes it all seem worthwhile. The film does take itself seriously at times and that is a good thing to ensure that dramatic and emotional beats do have the impact they are intended to have.
The acting is fantastic. Each character gets his or her moment to shine and they all do their characters justice. It is pertinent to point out here that the fantastic acting is wholly due to potent writing. Ivanowich and Marcillac handle the society’s descent to madness due to a game from a realistic and gritty point of view, noting how everyday people have essentially become beasts in pursuit of tagging the next person. The film’s unexpected ending makes the whole story even more satisfying. Not to spoil anything but the odyssey of death and pain occurring on the planet has a shocking twist, one that no one will expect to have seen coming. While it does take the story in a direction that some might deem too science fiction-like, it does provide a nice closure to all the carnage that has been occurring on the planet.
Equally impressive is the cinematography here, as it makes effective use of lighting, textures and other techniques to show how society descends into madness after a silly joke goes mainstream. The action is captured flawlessly and each chase scene has the intensity of a predator going after its prey without any stops. The action also works well due to the well timed narrative pacing that allows characters to develop in the midst of the action. All in all, from a technical aspect, this is a well made film that manages to do something different.
‘Ultimate Chabite’ is therefore a thoughtful and engaging adventure comedy that pushes boundaries with its quirky plot, and will probably end up becoming a cult classic.
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