Coteau Rouge

Quebec submitted this goofy little black comedy for the 2012 Seattle International Film Festival (English captions), and we were diverted from the very beginning, as we watched a father and son dump a corpse into a river for disposal, then eat lunch as they sit in the boat and chat. Evidently there is a huge sturgeon that lives in the river and it never leaves a trace.

"Coteau Rouge" ("Red Slope") is the name of a marginal community targeted for an upgrade by a shady real estate developer who is pres- suring the residents into selling their old family homes so he can gentrify the neighborhood. But these folks don't take pressure without a fight!

Because we jump back and forth in time, it got a little confusing, but I think some of the characters are:

• Paolo Noël ("Sticky Fingers") is the grandfather who used to make his living disposing of bodies for the Mob. Now he picks up rubber bands because they are bad if they get into the drains and are consumed by the sturgeon that still lives in the river.
• Gaston Lepage ("Frisson des collines") is his son, who struggles along running a gas station and garage.
• Louise Laparé ("Frisson des collines") as his wife, right now she is serving as surrogate mother for their spoiled daughter so she won't have stretch marks!
• Céline Bonnier ("French Kiss") is that daughter. She pretends to have morning sickness and wears a prosthesis baby bump, but her husband is a wealthy developer and she's a trophy wife.
• Roy Dupuis ("Cyanure") is that developer. He's cunning and successful, but...
• Mario Saint-Armand (in his first film) is a grandson launching eco-friendly services in a nearby upscale community. He mows lawns with push mowers and dries sheets for pay on the family clothes lines so they smell good!

The men play pétanque, which is like the Italian bocce, while they discuss changes in the neighborhood and what they are going to do about them.

This is unpredictable, funny and highly entertaining...but tres French.