Bucking Fastard

Bucking Fastard tells the story of sisters (not twins!) Jean and Joan Holbrooke, who speak in unison and despair at anything that cannot be done as one. Opening a can of sardines or vacuuming the space between two chairs can result in them getting caught in a frustrating loop of repetition, unable to find a way out of the impasse. Their unhealthy codependency transcends into their relationships with other people. In an unprecedented courtroom proceeding, they are jointly put on the witness stand, where they have to testify to their love-crazed behaviour.

German director Werner Herzog, who has become an internet phenomenon for a younger generation recently discovering his interviews, firmly counts on his audience’s curiosity for the meta element to his casting. It’s Kate and Rooney Mara’s first time working together on a film, real-life sisters embodying the most extreme form of sibling symbiosis. However, as fascinating as their joint performance is – each reaction completely in sync, with each adding minuscule elements of individuality to their characters – their acting in lockstep is not enough to entirely sustain the viewer’s interest over a 109-minute runtime.

While there is something phantasmic to the conception, to the point where instances have the quality of a long-lost fairy tale, the story is ultimately thin and drifts into dead ends. The first minutes of the feature, which deal with the sisters’ illicit relationship with their neighbour (played by Orlando Bloom), are pure delight, and would have made for an impeccable short film. What eventually becomes a visual embodiment of the Holbrooks’ desire for love, strong enough to move mountains, lingers long after the movie ends, though so does the nagging feeling that it never delivered the emotional breakthrough it promised.

Bucking Fastard is above all a showcase for the Mara sisters, whose mesmerising performances and uncanny synchronicity are far more compelling than the film built around them. Its whimsical narrative drifts rather than deepens, leaving behind searing imagery that feels like it never quite crossed the finish line.

Selina Sondermann

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