Reflection in a Dead Diamond

When you go to a fancy restaurant and they make something like a deconstructed peanut-butter and jelly sandwich, you might get something which has the three elements, peanuts, jelly, and some sort of bread product - it might just be a cracker - on a plate and it might look like modern art. Some might call it pretentious. This kind of fun isn't for everyone. Reflection in a Dead Diamond is a deconstructed Bond film. All the elements of a spy thriller are here, Mission: Impossible-style rubber masks, '80s ninja assassins, and cars with machine gun headlights, but it was like they were handed off to David Lynch. There is story here but to say it's coherent would be misleading. Some might call it pretentious. Co-writers and directors, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani have created an eye-popping ode to Bond as well as a deconstructed one. I would say it's film-nerd fun. The opening sequence of a man on a beach having a drink is worth the price of admission alone, which was cheap because I found this little gem - this diamond - streaming on Shudder. It feels to me like MUBI or The Criterion Channel would be the more appropriate place to find such an arty post-modernist film experiment. If you are tired of spy tropes, then this one will shake things up for you (not stir them) and give you something to reflect on.