Bullhead (2011)

The Belgian film "Bullhead" stars Matthias Schoenaerts as a cattle farmer who traffics in black-market steroids to fatten his livestock and himself. Over time, we learn why he's fixated on developing his musculature. I won't give away the details. I'll just say that it stems from an event in his childhood and that this event is horrifying.

The film was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign-Language Film of 2011. (It lost to Iran's "A Separation.")

"Bullhead" is effective and haunting, and Schoenaerts' performance is magnetic. But it has a number of weak aspects. First and foremost, its story is all over the place. There are about six different stories chaotically thrown together. If the film had focused more on the Schoenaerts character, it would have been greatly improved.

Instead, first-time writer/director Michael Roskam introduces us to just about everyone in the man's village, including the boy who witnessed Schoenaerts' childhood atrocity and is now secretly in love with him. And the sister of the perpetrator, whom Schoenaerts has secretly loved for 20 years. Plus about 15 men with whom Schoenaerts is involved in the black market. Plus several police officers closing in on Schoenaerts and his fellow farmers in an attempt to crack the black market.

Everything but the kitchen sink is thrown in. I often complain about thin stories in contemporary cinema. Almost as frustrating is when a filmmaker has too many story ideas and cannot edit himself. Someone has to teach Roskam how to narrow the focus of his stories so his audience is less dizzy and confused.

Focus and prioritization is required during the writing of the screenplay. It also must happen in the editing booth when the shooting is done. Roskam doesn't know how to edit there either. For this film to have a 125-minute running time is ridiculous. Roskam definitely had 90 minutes of good story-telling in the footage he shot. He couldn't find a way to cut away the excess to spotlight those 90 choice minutes. I could see many viewers tuning out at 100 minutes, just from exhaustion. There's nothing more annoying than two hours of meandering footage.

However, there are some amazing moments in "Bullhead," and it's nice to see a young male filmmaker turning his attention to the remarkable fixation on musculature among males today. Is it a form of self-worship? Body worship? When did this fascination with male muscles begin? In the 1980s? That appears to be when it started skyrocketing as a cultural phenomenon. It's quite astonishing and appears to be global. What does it say about the male psyche today?

I appreciate very much that Roskam is one of the few filmmakers venturing into this thematic territory. He has a lot of talent. Did he deserve an Oscar nomination on his first film? I would say no. I don't know who was responsible for that, but I think it was entirely too generous.

But if Roskam gets better at editing his own ideas and his own footage, he could turn into a major filmmaker. He's already responsible for turning Schoenaerts into a global movie star. (Schoenaerts currently stars in "Rust and Bone" with Marion Cotillard.) What's next for Roskam? I'm eager to watch and find out.