Ex Drummer

Every village or town in Flanders has a couple of bands that end up playing in local halls and community centres, while still cherishing a dream of future fame. Like their idols, the band members often turn to drugs and then find themselves in a downwards spiral of chaos and violence.
In Ex Drummer three ‘handicapped’ musicians still need a drummer before they can turn into rock ‘n’ roll stars for the one-off major gig they have in mind. They find the drummer they need in the form of the arrogant and successful writer Dries, who regards it as an experiment to ‘step outside his own happiness’ and descend to the less well endowed world of the plebs. This fourth man, whose handicap is that he cannot play the drums, gradually reveals himself to be an unscrupulous manipulator. Mutual tensions and family vendettas mean that violence gradually increases. In the end the writer manages to drive the other band members so far they could drink each other’s blood.
Based on a novel by the well-known Flemish writer Herman Brusselmans, Ex Drummer is not a conventional film version of a book. This coarse, contrary, gruesome and occasionally comic film is, like previous films by Mortier, above all a very expressively-shot music film in which well-known rock numbers are performed by local greats. (SdH)

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