I wanted to but couldn't!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Flemish cinema. OK why not.Pretty much the only reason why i got my hands on it in the first place, it turned out however to be quite a surprise. Deep down below the underground of Europe's cities has always provided some nasty atmospheres, from the French Irreversible to the Danish Pusher, there is always something dark and nasty… and real. This is definitely the case as well with Ex-drummer: half dark comedy, half shock value, full art.The movie has little plot, on paper at least: bunch of idiotic semi-handicapped idiots want to form a rock band, and so they ask the local celebrity (a well published writer) to be their drummer. The characters personality however is what makes it all stick together, it's a tale of simplicity and manipulation. Each protagonist is easily distinguishable from each other, and ultimately all stand alone to represent a specific issue of society.I understood (?) the movie as some sort of metaphor for current issues of this world: diseases, violence, ethics, sex, alienation etc… and that feeling was greatly enhance by the ending scene (hint: morals). Thumbs up for that, i'm sure there is more than meets the eyes in it.As far as cinematography goes, there was a lot of brilliant work in there ! The intro and final scenes definitely stuck in my mind, they worked perfectly well to suck you in, and to leave you thoughtful for a while later.Nasty piece of life representation, it manages to leave you both eerie and in disgust: how fascinating the life down the hole can be ? Also, interesting soundtrack (not necessarily good, but definitely interesting). Plenty of rock obviously, some international while some very local.Either way, how many Flemish movies have you seen ? *Originally written for http://abstractcuriosity.tumblr.com/*

EX DRUMMER is about a group of three very sick, handicapped punks who are in a punk band, practicing to play a single concert at the battle of the bands. They recruit a famous renowned writer to be their drummer. However, once he becomes part of their group he decides to take advantage of his being higher up on the social spectrum than they are and begins to manipulate them and turn them against each other. Soon they begin to lash out at each other, but this drummer's actions soon have unexpected consequences. EX DRUMMER is an ultimately fascinating and furious piece of work. As a film, EX DRUMMER is one hell of a sick rush. I will state right now that about 95% of people who will see it will find it to be either the most disturbing film ever made or the most offensive or both. Personally, it doesn't quite reach that honor in my mind, but regardless of all that I do think that it's one of the funniest films I've seen in years and certainly one of the all time greatest black comedies. When I mean black, I mean pitch black. Blacker than coal. Black as ultimate evil. I rarely find the content that is depicted in this film to ever be funny, but this film pushes everything to such an extreme that it becomes ultimately surreal in it's humorous nature. EX DRUMMER is such an extreme, taboo breaking, and brave film that one has to feel at least appreciative of it's success in milking so much humor out of it's grotesque horror. The three main characters are sick. One beats and rapes people nonstop and has a skewed perspective as his view apparently is upside-down. His handicap is that he has a speech impediment, but who's to say that that's a real handicap? One is a homosexual who's mother is domineering and whose father is chained to his bed. He can't bend his arm due to a masturbation mishap. One is a deaf junkie who is also a wife beater and a father of a baby girl. His wife and child are both also junkies.These are the most sympathetic characters however. The real monster of the film is the drummer. The drummer is rich and lives in a wonderful condo with his wife who brings other women to bed for them to have multiple sex partners with. Aside from these people, we also have a man named "Big Dick" who's penis is extremely large and dangerous. We also have a huge cast supporting cast of freaks, degenerates, queers, and general all around scum. Imagine a combination of IRREVERSIBLE, TRAINSPOTTING, MAN BITES DOG, and DiG! and you'll have an idea as to what this film is like. This film is one of the goriest, most brutal, shocking, sexually explicit, bizarre, and gritty films I can say I've ever seen. However, it's such a fantastic and brave piece of film-making that it deserves to be admired for it's sheer reckless nature in it's extreme desires. Everyone, including black people, women, homosexuals, AND homophobic people all better beware. They might be offended by the content in this film.

When a famed Belgian author joins forces with a trio of rock wannabes he provides us with an insight into the debauched underworld that these three stooges struggle to exist in. This film is quite simply one of the most disturbing pictures I have ever come across. The misogyny and general contempt for mankind here leaves a bitter taste in the mouth sweetened only by the innovative cinematography and wonderfully creative direction of Belgian director Koen Mortier. The content in places is so horrific that it is difficult to be amused by the black humour and we are given not one character to empathise with thus hurrying ones appetite for their inevitably lurid demise. Probably best served with an episode of Friends after the film to ensure that you can sleep OK. Not one for the kiddies.

The discussion about this movie is wide. Some people hate the movie, some people adore it. Probably it will be a movie which will be much more popular in time. For me it was one roller-coaster of laughing and an experience i wont forget for a long time. At the same time i saw people leaving the cinema because of the rough, unpolished use of language. I have been living in Belgium for a few years, which is an advantage to understand the humor of the used dialect. The brilliant thing about the movie is that it is a one on one translation of the writer Herman Brusselmans. I saw the movie and asked myself the question, how would i have directed this book differently. I couldn't find an answer. This is Belgina cinema on his best. A fabulous devastating trip.