Exclusive: Harpo Guit Discusses the Comedy, Mother Schmuckers

In the Belgium comedy, Mother Schmuckers, dim-witted brothers Issachar and Zabulon find themselves on a series of misadventures as they search for their mother’s beloved dog, which they must find within 24 hours to avoid being kicked out of the house.

The film was written and directed by the brother duo of Harpo Guit and Lenny Guit, with Harpo pulling triple duty as one of the film’s stars. Mother Schmuckers marks the feature film directorial debut for both brothers, having previously helmed a couple of short films together. While working together in the various dynamics could have presented problems or conflicts for the Guit siblings while shooting, particularly with Harpo in front of the camera in addition to co-directing, the experience was actually incredibly collaborative. “While we were writing the script, we relied on our chemistry together, and we pushed each other for all possibilities and ideas,” says Harpo. “Then when we’d be shooting, and I was in front of the camera and had a question, we would take the time and find a solution together. It was actually very helpful to be working in the various roles.”

Leaning Into Dark Humor

The comedy found in Mother Schmuckers takes inspiration from films like Bill & Ted, the Farrelly brothers’ Dumb & Dumber or There’s Something About Mary, and John Waters’ Pink Flamingo, but it’s silly nature quickly moves into absurdity, and by the film’s end, ends up in some dark, if not shocking, corners. This transition was not unintentional for the Guit brothers. “While we were writing, we thought about how each scene could be worse than the last,” says Harpo. “We wanted to go deeper and deeper, but it still had to be comedic. For us, there was no line to be crossed. It just had to be funny. Every situation that we put into the film had to be funny first.”

The audience reaction to the dark humor wasn’t really a consideration for Lenny and Harpo in the writing process, but it did become a bit real when it came time to screen the film. “While we were writing it, we were just thinking how crazy the film could get,” says Harpo. “But at the moment of the first screening, or its showings at festivals, we realized that we may have gone too far. But at the same time, we liked that it was not like other movies.”

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Shooting in Style

Mother Schmuckers benefits from some innovative camera work from Director of Photography, Sylvestre Vannoorenberghe, whom the brothers Guit knew through a mutual acquaintance. “One of our best friends lived with [Sylvestre], and he had some crazy ideas,” says Harpo. “We wanted to try some innovative stuff not only in the story, but also in the cinematography. We had some crazy images in mind, and talking with him, we found that he had some ideas that we liked.”

One scene in particular, in which a party makes a sharp pivot into depravity, could very well have been considered quite offensive to some viewers, but the stylistic nature of the camera work takes a bit of the edge off, which was an intentional creative decision. “That was kind of the idea of the movie, putting us in crazy situations but still being acceptable to the eye, putting out the idea but not showing it. That was kind of the idea behind that scene.”

The film was shot in a considerable number of locations around Brussels, though because of the limited budget and crew, many of those scenes were shot guerrilla style. “We had permission for some scenes, but many of the scenes were shot without permission,” says Harpo. “It was just me, Lenny, Maxie, and Sylvestre, director of photography, going on location and just shooting it with the four of us and the sound guy.”

Starring opposite of Harpo is Maxi Delmelle as the other half of dim-witted duo. Maxi had very little acting experience going to Mother Schmuckers, but that wasn’t a concern for Maxi and Larry. “I was in theater school with [Maxi] and we were best friends,” says Harpo. “Me and Larry find him to be crazily funny, so we just really wanted him in the film. We have great chemistry together, which was great. It was very easy going and allowed us to go into some crazy places. We’d considered having Larry star, but we both very much wanted Maxi in the film.”

According to Harpo, despite the fact that the film focuses on a pair of brothers, and it was produced by a pair of brothers, there were very little taken from the Guit’s real life, save for one thing. “The fact that we were fighting each other all the time over everything. That was very much me and Larry.”

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