Enter the Void (Gaspar Noé, 2009)

[franco]

I don't remember that lame music being there, but yeah, the credits are rather cool. The audiences clapped enthusiastically.

If my memory serves me correctly, the movie is pretty safe for people who can't stand any hint of homophobia.

[James]

I don't remember that lame music being there, but yeah, the credits are rather cool. The audiences clapped enthusiastically.

That's what I've heard, but Noé seems to be changing parts of the movie a lot and maybe this is an IFC thing. Anyway, what's wrong with the music? Seems to fit the movie well. Doesn't everybody love hard club music every now and then?

[Duncan Hopper]

I seem to remember the titles had a throbbing drone soundtrack when I saw it. Not sure I like the new music.

There was no applause for the credits when I saw it, there was however a smattering of applause (and chuckles of disbelief) at the 'money-shot' near the end.

Whatever you think of the film, and I didn't think much of it, you have applaud the audacity of such a scene.

[Nothing]

There's a 2hr edit now, apparently, which may well be what gets released in English-speaking territories.

[Tom Hagen]

The electonic music had been added as of Sundance. I had assumed it was something Bangalter put together for the film, but it is actually a song by a British act called LFO (not to be confused with the TRL-era MTV boy band).

[colinr0380]

The French trailer

[James]

The French trailer

And it's amazing. Paz de la Huerta. /swoon

[mfunk9786]

For those of you in the Philadelphia area, this will be playing on Thursday, July 15th [10 PM] at the Ritz at the Bourse as part of the (yay!) new Danger After Dark film festival. I've got my tickets!

[mfunk9786]

Just got back from screening the 161 minute cut of the film, and I must say: I thought it was an absolutely dazzling picture. With everyone's sights set on Inception to change the idea of a big budget blockbuster forever, here comes this film, feeling as if it was an incredibly expensive and daunting film to put together - yet because of its content it'll be playing in theaters alongside the latest studio indie award bait, sadly lost in the shuffle of filmgoers' interest.

Where to begin? First off, the camerawork is unlike any I ever thought possible, and the reasons for saying so evolve with the timeline of the film. It feels like a big screen adaptation of Prodigy's video for "Smack My Bitch Up" for the first half hour, becomes a heartbreaking mosaic of innocence lost and Freud-spinning-in-his-grave sibling confusion for its 2nd act, and then devolves completely into a "I'm never letting you out of this fucking theater" emotional and sensory assault until its full circle erm, climax.

In between there are moments of aching beauty, heartpounding surprise, overwhelming despair, and utterly unflinching provocation.

Noe has made one of those films that one cannot imagine a director following up with anything, let alone anything nearly as vast and ambitious. It will make a lot of people feel sick, angry, cheated, maybe even bored. But it made Requiem For a Dream look like March of the Penguins, and it made me feel like I was watching one of the best films of the decade.

[Tom Hagen]

and then devolves completely into a "I'm never letting you out of this fucking theater" emotional and sensory assault until its full circle erm, climax.

Ha!

I still can't believe that Criterion appears to have passed on this. In an ideal world, this film would have gotten the attention that Antichrist did. If both films hadn't played at Cannes at the same time, it probably would have.

[kaujot]

Well, they appeared to have passed on Antichrist as well before announcing it, so there's still hope.

[ianungstad]

I don't think Criterion has ever commented on Enter the Void but IFC did issue a press release about a month back saying that Enter the Void was one of serveal pictures launching a new imprint called MIDNIGHT, along with Human Centipede, Valhalla Rising and Vengeance. The press release did specifically state that the films would be released by MPI in MIDNIGHT branded packaging. I suppose things can still change. Frankly, I think they would be better off trying to get Criterion to release it. When you think of these collections (Miriam, Paramount Centennial, Meridian, Cult Fiction, etc.) they don't seem to stick around very long.

I just hope Criterion is smart enough to grab Life During Wartime! Interested in Enter the Void but am a bit wary as I'm not usually into the explicit-shock stuff that's associated with Noe.

[mfunk9786]

Like Antichrist, this film is so much more than shock and anyone who dismisses it as such is doing themselves a real disservice.

[tenia]

Personnally, count me as one who has been partly bored during the movie.
I didn't dislike it, but there are so many redundancies, especially all the transition shots in the 2nd half, that the movie could have been cut at least by 30 minutes.
The problem is that Enter the void is a visual trip that has almost nothing to say, except a few very basic stuff about life, death bla bla bla.
It looks (as most of the time with Noe) like it has been written by a 8 years old boy. A boy with a great imagination, sure, but still, it is naive to the point of breakdown point.

Don't misunderstand me, it's a movie that I will defend for a long time, because I think it's audacious and groundbreaking, and that's a kind of movie that deserves to be defended.

But when you have so few to say, either you go for a six hour movie (Warhol style) or you cut all the fat of it.
And god, there's a lot of fat and useless thing here.

The redundancies from the transition shots, first. The stromboscopic effects. The repetition of the accident shots. The length of the first trip at the very beginning.
And, fuck, all these tracking shots above the building !

Man, after like the tenth one, I just wanted to die.

[Tark]

review

Sounds great. Thanks.

[James]

review

Sounds great. Thanks.

I know! The funny this is, I just kept reading all those negatives in tenia's post, ending up even more interested in the film.

[tenia]

Well, all these things are part of the experience, but at some point, I felt like Noe extended on purpose all these useless style effects. Clocking at 2h35, the movie then bored half of the time, mostly in the second half, due to all these useless and repetitive style effects, that, in fine, kicked and kept me out of the movie.

Don't forget also the ridiculous finale of the movie. I don't want to spoil it but

Spoiler

basically I received my first facial ejaculation there. Thanks, Gaspar !

But as I said, I can only recommend you the movie.

It's naive, way too long, without anything deep to say, ridiculous half of the time but visually marvelous (and even more).

[bearcuborg]

Just got back from screening the 161 minute cut of the film, and I must say: I thought it was an absolutely dazzling picture. With everyone's sights set on Inception to change the idea of a big budget blockbuster forever, here comes this film, feeling as if it was an incredibly expensive and daunting film to put together - yet because of its content it'll be playing in theaters alongside the latest studio indie award bait, sadly lost in the shuffle of filmgoers' interest.

Where to begin? First off, the camerawork is unlike any I ever thought possible, and the reasons for saying so evolve with the timeline of the film. It feels like a big screen adaptation of Prodigy's video for "Smack My Bitch Up" for the first half hour, becomes a heartbreaking mosaic of innocence lost and Freud-spinning-in-his-grave sibling confusion for its 2nd act, and then devolves completely into a "I'm never letting you out of this fucking theater" emotional and sensory assault until its full circle erm, climax.

In between there are moments of aching beauty, heartpounding surprise, overwhelming despair, and utterly unflinching provocation.

Noe has made one of those films that one cannot imagine a director following up with anything, let alone anything nearly as vast and ambitious. It will make a lot of people feel sick, angry, cheated, maybe even bored. But it made Requiem For a Dream look like March of the Penguins, and it made me feel like I was watching one of the best films of the decade.

I have a feeling we were at the same Philly screening.

I couldn't stomach Requiem when it came out, as I felt it glorified drugs - at least the hard ones and the lifestyle - I'm more lax on psychedelics and pot. I didn't get that feeling from Enter the Void and really enjoyed the visuals - it's a complete trip. Seeing it high probably helped a lot. I can't say it's as seriously considered a narrative as something like Antichrist which it reminded me of as I was watching it unfold.

[knives]

How did Requiem glorify drugs, or did you not watch until the final season? It's really closer to a PSA, an exceptionally well filmed PSA, but a PSA nonetheless.

[domino harvey]

I cannot believe you fell for that bait

[LQ]

I have a feeling we were at the same Philly screening.

We were in the very front row, alllll the way to the right. The best seat in the house

I probably occupy some kind of middleground between tenia and mfunk, and I can't stop thinking about this movie. I'm happy to hear that Noé continues to tweak and pare it down, because I too felt it was over-repetitive (among the examples of such, that "remember the pact we made?" scene popped up what, 5 different times? The accident flash too, overused to the point that all emotional impact dissipated), nor do I care much for the storyline in general, although as Gropius noted earlier in the thread, it's [arguably] largely incidental. I just don't really have interest in or tolerance for movies about the endless cycle of fucked-up people interacting with other fucked-up people in a vortex of meaninglessness and emptiness. I may not have appreciated the story's content, but luckily the narrative isn't the point of the film. The audacious pervasiveness of Noé's cinematic vision is undeniably brilliant and convention-defying, and the visual experience is unmatched (take that, Avatar). My mind has been occupied for the past couple of days with hazy, lurid reflections of the visual trip he sent us on, and I can't wait to plug back in...hopefully, to a more pared-down version. Keep all the gorgeous drug-addled abstractions and the kaleidoscopic whirly through portals, hell, keep all the mind-numbing sex! Just hack off some of the unnecessary and distracting retreads and memories please.

[tenia]

The word that I was searching is "Bold".
A movie like Enter the void is a really bold movie, and deserves to be defended only for that.
But LQ put his finger on what distracted me with the repetition : the fact that it diminishes each time more the emotional impact.

[mfunk9786]

Hehehe more gender issues for CF.org!

[swo17]

LQ is basically just one of the guys though.

[bearcuborg]

How did Requiem glorify drugs, or did you not watch until the final season? It's really closer to a PSA, an exceptionally well filmed PSA, but a PSA nonetheless.

I have not seen the entire film, but I felt insulted by the showy editing - like I was being manipulated. Time has shown Arronofsky to be a poor filmmaker, so I don't really care to see it again. If I want to see a anti hard drugs film, I'd watch The Corner.

The word that I was searching is "Bold".
A movie like Enter the void is a really bold movie, and deserves to be defended only for that.
But LQ put his finger on what distracted me with the repetition : the fact that it diminishes each time more the emotional impact.

LQ is really spot on, however, I didn't see many changes that needed to take place - but yes, the

Spoiler

parent's car crash

flashback is over used at least by one time too many.