"KEEP BUSTIN'."

Enter the Void

tn_enterthevoidLike the opening of BLACK CHRISTMAS, HALLOWEEN or THE FUNHOUSE, ENTER THE VOID starts out in a first-person-POV. You are Oscar, a young English speaking gwailo living in Tokyo. Oscar’s out on a balcony talking to this girl who’s wearing not much more than a t-shirt. Oscar’s doing it, so I’m doing it, I’m in his perspective. I see everything he looks at, I even see his blinks. He seems to blink alot, too.

I noticed the girl (turns out it’s Paz de la Huerta, the girl in the see-through raincoat in LIMITS OF CONTROL) was kinda cute. Then I figured out from the conversation that this is actually Oscar’s sister, which means she’s my sister. Our sister. Oh shit, sorry about that, Oscar. Shouldn’t have thought about that while I was seeing through your eyes. I made you into a sicko.

After she leaves he digs out his drug stash, shoots up and looks up at the ceiling and starts hallucinating. This is a movie with alot of psychedelic imagery interludes, sometimes going on as long as the light show in 2001. Moving, pulsing crystalline fractals that shift and melt and fold and swirl and bubble into the shape of veins and slime and cell tissue and then turn out to be a light fixture or something.

And we as Oscar go about our white man in Japan business and go to a club and, I’m sorry to say, we get shot and die. And we have an out of body experience. We float up into the air and just stare at our dead Oscar body laying there on the filthy restroom floor. (spoiler)

mp_enterthevoidUnlike HALLOWEEN and those other movies I mentioned this one never abandons the POV shot. As far as I know this is the only Ghost’s Eye View movie. We hang around and watch the aftermath of our death. Now, it turns out Oscar’s sister – and again, I apologize for checking her out, it was an accident – is a stripper. And he floats through the city and watches her do her thing on the pole, then watches her in a back room having sex with her boyfriend or somebody. Her phone rings and she tries to answer it but he pushes it away so as to not interfere with the passion and what not. So we-as-Oscar float at the ceiling watching our sister fuck a dude. I couldn’t help but think maybe I was responsible for putting this thought in poor Oscar’s head earlier. Now he’s a ghost and pretty the first thing he does is use his ghost powers to spy on his sister getting boned. This is not good.

To be fair he doesn’t watch the entire thing, he does float away and watch his buddy calling his sister, that’s who was on the phone. He leaves a voicemail. Then Oscar floats back and watches the rest of the sex and when it’s all over the dude leaves and she listens to the voicemail and he’s there to watch her break down and cry about it. I don’t know man, this is a crazy out-there type of movie, but just the situation made it really emotionally powerful for me. You kinda feel like you really are watching your sister find out you died.

Well, soon Oscar flashes back through his entire life, so instead of POV it’s watching the back of his head. We go back to see these kids growing up together. I’m happy to say that I’m absolved of responsibility, there was definitely some kind of FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC shit going on between brother and sister long before I was involved. It’s mostly a sweet bond they have because they were orphaned and they promised each other that they would always be there for each other. So now the poor guy is a ghost and he’s sticking to that promise.

The flashbacks flip around in time, more in emotional order than chronological. It has a whole bunch of perfect cuts between adult situations and childhood ones. And the guy is a perv. He definitely checks her out laying around in her underwear. In fact, at one point he sneaks into her room and sniffs her panties. Even I wouldn’t have done that. I’m innocent, man. It’s Oscar.

There’s a scene where you as young Oscar experience the death of your parents in a car crash, you sitting in the back seat. And every time this comes up again it’s like a punch in the gut. At one point you have to sit there and hear your sister bawling while the parents lay dead in the front seat, and the little girl is so good it seems like a documentary. I never seen the other movies by this director, Gaspar Noe. I know some of them, like IRREVERSIBLE, have a reputation for just being absolutely fucked up and sadistic to the audience. This isn’t like that. It’s harsh, but it’s not fucked up. It’s just sad. Also there’s a whole lot fuckin in this movie. No raping, from what I remember, so I appreciate that.

Eventually his whole life has flashed before his eyes, all the way to the point where he’s a dead body, so we go back to Ghostvision. And then I think he’s looking for some way to get reincarnated. So he goes to this place called The Love Hotel and watches a whole lot of fuckin and blow jobs going on. Maybe some of you already know this, but I guess you gotta find somebody fuckin and just get in there at the right moment, that’s how you get reincarnated. And all these people got wisps of glowing smoke emanating from their genitals. There’s a gal blowing a glowing dick, etc. Magical luminescent sex type stuff. You know how it is.

There’s alot of girls in this movie, including his mom, who look like his sister. But I think this is his sister he eventually finds in a sex bout. She says “Come inside me!” and he misinterprets it in my opinion, she’s talking to the guy that’s fuckin her but he’s like “Who, me?” and he floats into her bellybutton and inside her, and I’m pretty sure he regrets it as soon as he sees the head of a dick coming at him like the boulder in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Entering the void. (Ha ha, some poor sucker had to animated a CGI dick.) And it does its work and he follows the semen down to a microscopic level and observes the fertilization of an egg from up close so he can be reborn. Same thing that happened in the last issue of Casper the Friendly Ghost.

De la Huerta is pretty good as the sister, she’s kind of a trashy mess and a bombshell and an emotional wreck all wrapped into one. Very troubled and obnoxious but somehow sympathetic. The dude playing Oscar is terrible, but luckily he doesn’t talk very much. The camera cranes do most of the work for him.

It’s not hyperbole to say that this movie is absolutely incredible on a technical level. I don’t even know how they did it. At least half of the movie is a camera floating around looking down on scenes, flying through walls, over buildings. Sometimes it floats into the back of people’s heads and sees through their eyes (usually to enjoy some sex from some dude’s POV, and usually the dude is fucking Oscar’s sister). It’s like in the FAST AND FURIOUS movies how they always go inside the engines and show what they look like, but this guy can go inside bodies, through pipes, into memories and dreams. He flies over the city, and there’s a guy who is building a model of the city, and then sometimes the real city is shot to look like the model and you don’t know for sure which one you’re in.

I’ve heard some claims that the movie is pretentious. There are some references to the Tibetan Book of the Dead. I guess Noe had wanted to do the movie ever since he was a kid and saw the first person POV movie LADY OF THE LAKE while he was on shrooms. I’m sure he was trying to do some kind of deep spiritual business here, but I didn’t really pick up on it so it didn’t bother me. To me it’s just an amazing movie experience. I know it would’ve been even harder to make, but man, here’s a movie that would’ve been perfect for 3-D. It’s as much of a theme park ride as any of those Robert Zemeckis mocaptoons. I mean it really throws you into some crazy experiences, you feel like you’re there. It might almost be too intense. Especially if they did smellovision for the panty-sniffing scene.

Starting with the opening credits – a seizure-causing barrage of giant, colorful typography cut too fast for anyone to read – it announces its intention to punch your brain in the balls. Jean Pierre Jeunet’s old partner Marc Caro did the art design, and his respect for Tokyo’s neon signs seems about on par with that priest that got peed on’s respect for Pumpkinhead Rawhead Rex. One of the Daft Punk robots contributed ambient sound effects (he was too busy Tronning to do a score), which adds yet another surreal layer of filmatic hookah smoke on this thing. I read that they spent more than a year in postproduction because every frame is computered left and right, but you wouldn’t know it except that it just looks so vivid and surreal. Most of the effects are seamless. And it was shot on actual film. Just a mindblowing achievement in my opinion. You will definitely take your hat off to these filmatists, and possibly bow to them.

You’ll probly be bored as shit, possibly asleep or fast forwarding through the thing, but with your hat off. Fast forwarding in a respectful sort of way.

I like this movie, I respect this movie, and I think I would probly love it if it was around 90 minutes. But the DVD is a director’s cut with an exhausting 2 hours and 40 minutes run time. I’m usually the guy who can take a long running time and makes fun of the impatience of my friends thinking everything is too long, but here’s an example where it absolutely would’ve worked better if it wasn’t trying to torture me. I mean I appreciate the gesture, but I really don’t need to see like 8 or 9 different couples fucking in the Love Hotel. Three would do it, I bet.

I guess going through death and rebirth and flashing through the guy’s entire life is pretty epic, but THE FOUNTAIN spanned hundreds of years and multiple lives and didn’t need nearly this long. DAWN OF THE DEAD shows you life and death an the human condition and feels long but it’s a half hour shorter than this. There’s something to be said for the real time feel of some of these scenes and the sort of hypnotic state it brings you to. But there just isn’t enough substance to maintain it for a LORD OF THE RINGS type running time.

For the American theatrical release in order to make it shorter Noe just lifted the entire seventh reel out of it intact, and said it was “inessential.” So that tells you something. I also know a guy that saw it with the reels out of order and he would’ve had no idea except one guy in the lobby was complaining about it. It’s an unusual case where there are no credits at the end, so it would be easy to miss.

I really think with a more restrained edit it would be a hugely popular movie, at least with the college kids, they would love it the way the college kids used to love RUN LOLA RUN or a movie like that. But if that’s not what Noe wants I guess that’s his prerogative. I guess he was going for more of a BROWN BUNNY “fuck you for watching my movie, you’ll pay for it you dirty sonofabitch” type of feel.

So I don’t completely agree with this guy’s instincts, but his filmatistic skills are top notch. You can’t front on that level of obsessive attention to visual detail and invention. He can get away with some self indulgence when he’s this good and this crazy. It’s a rare combination to have a director this talented and this determined to do what the fuck he pleases.  Hollywood will have no choice but to crush him by luring him to do GREEN HORNET 2 or a prequel to a remake of something.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 at 3:32 am and is filed under I don't know, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

47 Responses to “Enter the Void”

  1. I said it before, but I seriously dislike Gaspar Noe’s movies. They are all gimmick and shock, but without any real substance. And I hate myself for planning to see ENTER THE VOID, because this time the gimmick looks seriously impressive.

  2. The priest getting peed on was in RAWHEAD REX. No peeing in PUMPKINHEAD.

  3. I saw this in a theater and, while I’m glad I had the experience (twelve foot tall penis rushing toward my face and all*), I can’t say that I’m desperate to see it again, or missed the excised reel. I was with the beast until the flashbacks started catching up with the opening; after, it often became tedious, if still technically impressive. I would twiddle my thumbs, occasionally get sucker-punched by something with real weight, then go back to checking the watch.

    So basically I agree with Vern.

    At it’s best it is some hallucinatory, captivating shit. At worst, it’s “this is impressive I guess but yeah I get it and I’ve seen this trick before please move on”.

    Then it hits you with the car crash again and you’re right back in it.

    Altogether something I’ll tentatively recommend to friends and try not to be around when they try it on for size.

    But then I told myself I’d never watch I Stand Alone again only to show it at my buddy’s the night before his wedding.

    *I thought this might be a crass visual pun, a joke, an I AM LITERALLY FUCKING THE AUDIENCE’S MIND HAR, but then I read about Noe being troubled that people sometimes responded to the massive dick that literally came in their faces with laughter.

  4. Marvel should let Noe make Doctor Strange.

  5. There’s definitely a lot here that could be filed in the ‘wow, never seen that before’ book (could have done without the graphic abortion scene), but has there ever been a film that shows someone getting shot (with a gun) from their own point-of-view? Just wondering.

  6. Well, THE VENTURE BROS had once a scene, where we see one’s neck getting broken (=his head get twisted 180°) from the vicitim’s POV. Does that count?

  7. billydeethrilliams

    January 26th, 2011 at 7:16 am

    So will there be an Irreversible review?

  8. Having seen Irreversible I seriously doubt I’ll go near a Noe movie again…But at the same time this sounds interesting.

  9. A great, 5-star movie, but a bit painful to watch :)

  10. This was one of my favorite movies from last year, although I saw the shortened US theatrical release. That version doesn’t really feel overlong, although the energy does flag for a little while later in the movie when it focuses on the not-very-compelling lives of Oscar’s sister and friend, and that kid who sold him out. But then I thought it kicked into high gear again during the trippy sex hotel and rebirth finale.

    I’m curious to see the full version now that it’s out, and I wonder if my familiarity with the shorter version will help me appreciate it more and not feel like it’s a bloated mess, as I’ve heard from some sources. Sorta like the 3 hour cut of ALMOST FAMOUS, which I think would be near unwatchable if you had never seen the theatrical version, but if you’re already a fan of the film then it seems more like a special treat.

    I could see a longer version of ENTER THE VOID being awesome because I’m already a fan of the shortened version. Does anyone know what material was removed from the US theatrical release?

  11. @Jim Bolo: [SPOILER] the last shot of Hitchcock’s “Spellbound” does exactly that.

  12. I think Noe is like Catherine Breillat and Abel Ferrara, when Hollywood comes calling, he’ll take a drag of his cig (I don’t know if he smokes, but his films make it seems like he would), and tell them to fuck off.

  13. After Irreversible, I am Gaspar Noe’s bitch. I will watch anything he makes, no matter how painful it might be, because I know it will be absolutely worth it. Irreversible was one of the most intense and touching experiences I’ve ever had watching a film. I can’t even imagine watching it with another person.

    Noe is a fuckin hypnotist. Brilliant filmmaking.

  14. ENTER THE VOID is easily my favorite film from last year. I saw the US cut in theaters twice and left the theater shaking both times. But I must say, I do prefer the shorter US cut to the director’s cut. When I got my hands on the longer version, I went straight to the deleted reel (it literally is one continuous 17-minute section that got cut. Because the film is presented as unbroken takes, pretty much the only way you could shorten without affecting the aesthetics it is by removing complete scenes) and it felt much like a non-essential “deleted scene” section on a DVD. Watching the extra footage in context of viewing the entire movie, I didn’t mind as much, but I still think the film is better without it.

    In particular, I prefer that the shorter cut has ambiguity right until the love hotel scene as to whether what Oscar sees in the post-flashback section is real or hallucination, while the longer cut (specifically the “zombie” section) makes clear that we can’t trust the “reality” of anything we’re seeing. I mean, I do think the post-flashback section is supposed to be more a purgatory for Oscar than him simply eavesdropping, where he sees how messed up everyone’s life is because of him and accepting that there’s nothing he can do to change that is what allows him to move on, but it’s always more interesting when a film doesn’t tell you outright what it’s doing.

  15. Dan Prestwich – The longer version includes a little more with Alex on the run, the zombie section Nemuren mentions where Oscar seems to come back to life, and hot girl-on-girl action. I prefer the longer version.

  16. man, those college kids used to get into their individual contemporary movies, didn’t they. i was in college when LOLA came out and it’s true, everybody ate it up like free cake. WAKING LIFE, FIGHT CLUB, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, HAPPINESS, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM… there was a bunch of stuff that came out in the late 90s that enjoyed similar reputations among the young and tastemaking.

    do said collegiate whippersnappers get psyched about individual contemporary releases anymore? i was born in 1979 and also am particularly out of touch with popular opinions, but the last movie i remember having a “get out and see this fuckin thing” reputation was TOY STORY 3, and that was more on a nationally-endorsed level than the word-of-mouth type of ‘hey i saw this thing you might’ve heard about, and it’s true, it’s awesome, so go see it’ banter LOLA and its ilk owe their popularity to…

    any titles from the past 5 or so years come to mind?

  17. …LET THE RIGHT ONE IN came to mind a second ago, but that’s all i’m coming up with.

  18. Sounds like a movie version of the game MYST but without the jumping into different books element.

  19. On a technical level only of course with the first person view. MYST could’ve used a lot of chicks to look at and stuff.

  20. I think Exit Through the Gift Shop meets your criteria, Psychic Hits. Pan’s Labyrinth maybe?

  21. “Vladimir @ Jim Bolo: [SPOILER] the last shot of Hitchcock’s “Spellbound” does exactly that.”

    Lovin’ that, Vladimir. Yes, I’m afraid Hitchcock did everything first. If something in a film seems novel to you, it just means you haven’t watched enough Hitchcock.

  22. dammit you beat me to it again. i actually fell asleep during the “middle” part. did you write this right after you watch it for the first time? it feels like it’s the kind of movie that i would need some time after watching before i can write about it.

  23. @psychich_hits – Not many come to mind from the past five years that you hopefully have not already seen. A/K/A, No Country for Old Men (I realize it’s American, but look at its domestic gross), The Proposition, Chaser (ok, I’m hoping the internet piles heaps of praise on this one at some point), Exiled and Vengeance (should be treated as a Johnnie To double feature on a Saturday afternoon), The Lives of Others and it is late, so that is the list I submit.

    Also, Vern – Did you review The Killing Machine – aka Icarus when I was not looking? Pretty fun flick from Lundgren.

  24. I was unimpressed with the P.O.V., then I fell in love with the drug trip, then I was blown away with the technical brio of it all, then I was annoyed with LaHuerta – both her character and her nails-on-chalkboard voice, then I was titilated by all the fucking, then I habituated, then my mind started wandering, then I thought the whole thing was a joke on me, then I thought it was pretencious like a student film, then I thought it was actually pretty stupid (vapid trying to pass for profundity), then I was bored.

    I watched all the way to the end (it’s also three scenes too long) and was left with an unshakeable feeling of phony. IRREVERSIBLE is dynamite (vomit-inducing dynamite) this is George Lucas-level of technical form over susbtance written by some bloke who just mainlined too much Boris Vian.

  25. I watched this movie for 3 times already but still didn’t have a solid opinion about it. But I agree with most of what you said. Even though much of the stuff there was inspired by Hitchcock still the preforming was great.

  26. “I know it would’ve been even harder to make, but man, here’s a movie that would’ve been perfect for 3-D. It’s as much of a theme park ride as any of those Robert Zemeckis mocaptoons. I mean it really throws you into some crazy experiences, you feel like you’re there. It might almost be too intense.”
    Especially with the dick scene.
    “Hollywood will have no choice but to crush him by luring him to do GREEN HORNET 2 or a prequel to a remake of something.”
    Death Race 3, a prequel to Death Race 2?

    Jim Bolo- Also the beginning of every James Bond film. Technically it’s from the point of view of a gun but I reckon close enough

  27. SirVincealot,

    I can dig your comment that ENTER THE VOID is style over substance, but I’d actually argue in this case that the style IS the substance. The film is very much about the way it was shot. To use a musical metaphor, it’s more akin to a virtuoso electric guitar performance, rather than a beautiful piano composition. Definitely not something that would be up everybody’s alley, but highly gratifying to those of us who, you know, enjoy hearing Yngwie Malmsteen shred every now and again.

  28. Thank you for the review, Vern. I truly hated Irreversible because I disagree with the film’s worldview (time doesn’t destroy everything, it heals a lot) and thos backwards upside down tricks aren’t style, they’re just raw aggression. I respect those who disagree because it’s one of those movies, even if you love it you understand where I’m coming from.

    I would have never watched a Noe film again, I even avoided this at Fantastic Fest, but with Vern’s description I’ve got to see it at some point. I do have a nice 1.5 speed on my PS3 where I can still understand the dialogue (And this is subtitled, right? I can just read fast.) If nothing else, it’ll be a rite of passage. Then I guess I have to do A Serbian Film and Antichrist, right?

  29. Fred,

    Even though it’s set in Tokyo and features an international cast, it’s primarily in English.

    Also, I don’t think ENTER THE VOID is as much of an endurance test as you seem to think. It’s definitely got elements of Noe’s signature miserable-ism, but its redeemed by some of the dark humor and the exuberant style. Plus, there’s nothing nearly as horrific as IRREVERISBLE’s rape scene.

  30. I could handle the Irreversible rape scene. I mean, it’s realistic, but what was horrific was twisting the camera upside down and flashing lights all over, and playing the story backwards Memento-style because there’s really no story going forwards. Yeah, he was questioning rape/revenge movies, but all rape/revenge movies question their motivations.

    I’m sold on Enter the Void. There’s always the fast forward option as a safety, and you know me. Even if something’s a batshit failure, I’m kind of intrigued by how that ends up existing.

    I also saw a clip of that Noe movie where a guy punches a pregnant woman in the stomach repeatedly until she miscarries. In a way I admire how F’ed up someone can get, but are those actually interesting movies?

  31. If you don’t like Backwards-Upside-Down-Cam and flashing lights you might want to give ENTER THE VOID a pass. This is the only film I’ve seen that had epilepsy warnings in the lobby of the theater. They probably should have had backwards-upside-down warnings as well.

  32. “Hollywood will have no choice but to crush him by luring him to do GREEN HORNET 2 or a prequel to a remake of something.”

    love it.

  33. If you thought the IRREVERSIBLE camera spinning was a bit much, this is on another level completely. Probably doesn’t have anywhere near the same effect on a small screen though, needs to be seen in cinema for maximum floatycam effect.

  34. “adds yet another surreal layer of filmatic hookah smoke on this thing”

    Hahaha.. perfect. Great review man.

    – diego

  35. Guys, I’m already sold on Void. I may hate it but I’m going to watch it. I’ve got stacks of Blu-rays waiting for me post-Sundance, and SXSW next month, but Void has moved from my “never watch” list to my “must see” list.

  36. If you have such a list, put it on your “must see on a big screen” list.

  37. I’m with the majority in that it’s obviously technically astounding and possibly really dumb…I really like the rhythm it establishes in the beginning with the extended blotter acid visuals, it was immersive on an unprecedented level.

    One thing people don’t mention is that the movie has a really acute sense of drug culture. The way it portrays dealer paranoia, and the intimate camaraderie that doing really bent drugs with somebody breeds, it all adds up to a huge amount of impact when he actually gets iced in the bathroom.

    Of course, everybody in the film is some sort of sexual deviant. Doesn’t it seem like ol’ Gaspar sort of sees homosexuality as this depraved thing? Why is it that in IRREVERSIBLE, the rapist’s preferred stomping ground just happens to be the world’s most debauched gay sex club? I guess it’s more equal opportunity in ENTER THE VOID, in which all the sex seems pretty….alternative. (IRREVERSIBLE provided the *normal sex* counterpoint at/towards the end of the film, sort of giving the accusation that its homophobic a leg to stand on in my opinion).
    .
    But yeah, bottom line is, it had a huge impact on me, but wasn’t as inventive moment to moment as I would have expected from Gaspar Noe’s ultimate fantasy movie.

  38. So… If I understood correctly, this film has a lot of hot actresses doing explicit nude scenes? That’s what got me interested, anyway.

  39. I’m just sick of Noe’s portrayal of women as these delicate, fragile little butterflies, whose lives hinge upon decisions made by depraved men. At least Lars Von Trier mixes it up: DANCER IN THE DARK (helpless woman), DOGVILLE (helpless woman – by choice – until ending), and ANTICHRIST (depraved woman, helpless Defoe).

    Make Noe do a prequel/sequel to KICKASS or TRUE GRIT or DEATHPROOF. I expect Noe would totally misrepresent those heroines, but maybe he’d learn something in the process.

    My thoughts on ENTER THE VOID: I agree that it’s fantastically representative of real drug culture (or certainly more so than REQUIEM FOR A DREAM). I was on point with the blinking, first person POV and the crane shots, the earlier light-induced hallucinations (after Oscar becomes a ghost, I think they start becoming more nebulous and tedious in a sort of religion-y way), and the drone-techno soundtrack. But I think that Noe really played these tricks out after the first 30 – 45 min of the film. Like Renfield, I expected more inventiveness. If not moment-to-moment, at least half hour-to-half hour.

    ENTER THE VOID in its entirety was kind of a failure for me in the same way that the rape scene in IRREVERSIBLE failed me. I don’t begrudge the sentiment so much as Noe’s eagerness to rub his audience’s face in it, and then congratulate himself for his “edginess” in doing so. Am I alone in thinking that Herzog (esp. a la Kinski) and Korine express that same self-indulgence in their films, and express it better? Perhaps I just can’t stomach too much artsy fartsy without a little tongue-in-cheek to counterbalance it.

    All that said, I am glad I suffered through ENTER THE VOID. I was more intrigued with the-guy-who-betrays-Oscar and his storyline, then by Oscar’s slutty mess of a sister and her predictable storyline. I was pleasantly surprised by the tasteful-harshness of the abortion sequence – that’s more what I wanted from IRREVERSIBLE ‘s rape scene – and I loved the dick up in cg pussy moment. Just a few more treasures like that, and I would be writing a very different response to the movie.

  40. Gotta add…I saw the long version of ETV on home-sized TV. Loved the zombie scene, probably better then anything else. Got so frustrated at its shortness and dream-dismissal, shouted aloud to empty room.

  41. Just saw this one, thought it was amazing…I can see how people might feel like the length was over-indulgent but I guess I am easily entertained by psychedelic movies with a lot of fantastic imagery and moodiness (if jodorowsky had made like a 5 hour cut of Holy Mountain I don’t think I’d’ve gotten bored). One thing I haven’t seen mentioned that I thought was pretty effective was how in the early “still alive” scenes, not only were you seeing from his point of view, but you were hearing his thoughts in a voice-over as well, and they had that mumbled half-formed quality of real thoughts that jump through our heads at random. Have any other films done something like this in POV shots? Hearing his thoughts when he was dying, just sort of expressing incredulity that it was really happening, was especially creepy.

  42. I’m just gonna list my thoughts on this one

    1. is it just me or is this inspired by that movie Brainstorm where scientists invent a machine that can record people’s firsthand experiences and even their deaths?

    2. or maybe it’s just inspired by the “camera monster” in the Evil Dead

    3. this movie sounds right up my alley though, I mean trippy visuals and lots of nudity and sex? sign me up!

    4. so in this movie’s version of the afterlife, you can float around and spy on people and to be reincarnated you have to find people having sex without protection? that sounds pretty awesome, but what if the Ghostbusters bust your ass?

    5. Vern’s comment “I’m pretty sure he regrets it as soon as he sees the head of a dick coming at him like the boulder in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.” made me laugh my ass off

  43. Looks like Netflix only has the shorter 2:20 cut. Gonna have to wait to get the full 2:40 version.

  44. FTopel, If you haven’t watched it yet the netflix version is listed as 2:20 but it’s the full 2:40 version.

  45. I tried to watch this tonight and could only make it a little over an hour and a half in before finally having to shut it off (which is rare for me), for a movie with such an oddball premise it sure is surprisingly boring mostly

    I should have maybe re-read Vern’s review before taking the plunge, but oh well….

  46. This movie was an awesome visual achievement. I feel like I was in Tokyo last night doing drugs. I mean I honestly felt like I was hanging out with Oscar and his buddy when they were bullshitting on the way to the Void. Also, my buddy ate some shrooms before watching this-at one point he thought he had died too. I can’t really say I’m surprised.

  47. I’m sick in bed throwing in VHS tapes in the VCR and I sit through Vampyres (silent version) and I Stand Alone (Seul contre tous) by Gaspar Noe in the same block. I Stand Alone isn’t dream-like tripped out film making. It’s just so, with a bunch of smash cuts. 90% of the film has voice over, telling you exactly what the horsebutcher protagonist thinks as he fails to keep anything together. So it kind of serves the same purpose as the trips inside the human body in this film. I don’t know. I haven’t seen Enter The Void, but I want to now.

Leave a Reply





XHTML: You can use: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>