is there anything about their approach that doesn't scream "traditionally educated middle class intellectual"? "tv is evil", come on. a lot of nazi officers read homer and vergil in school and we all know the results.
I haven't seen the film but I don't get the comment, yes many nazi officers read homer and vergil (not that many anyway) but nazism is a result of that? you probably didn't mean that, phrase your sentences next time and stop being the death of cinema (case you are, I feel it)
what i meant is that bourgeois education doesn't stop people from becoming violent psychopaths, in the same way that tv doesn't automatically make them insensitive to cruelty. also, me being "the death of cinema" coming from someone who likes transformers is kind of funny.
this is a sad film. but it was filmed really well. kudos to the directors. some amazing shots in there
Spot on. Extremely relevant and very well-made. There's really a lot to like here, but it contains my favorite use of Ode to Joy in some time. I'd love to see it theatrically.
The story reminded me of Being There, the ending of Videodrome, the sound design of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, the intertitles of Un Chien Andalou, the ending credits of A Clockwork Orange, and the music of Don Hertzfeldt's animations. The best parts are the 360degree spins that encompassed an entire roomful of action. Don't quite get why she couldn't just inseminate herself by not using the condoms...
It's a bit too heavy-handed for my tastes, but there's potential for the directors - but on another film, not this one. The music was pretty typical and the story doesn't really go anywhere. I know it's a short, but some of the more 'controversial' scenes could've been trimmed and a little more character development could've been put into it. Not a terrible short and there are brief glimpses of talent.
Several intertitles divide this most disturbing short film. The very first one states, “This film is based on a true story.” Open-minded viewers who manage to sit through the film--which poses a challenge because the film confronts us with incontrovertible evidence of our increasingly tenuous hold on our humanity-- will indeed walk away with a glimpse of the ultimate “true story.” But this truth is not a denotative truth. It is what the maverick German director Werner Herzog has referred to as the “ecstatic truth.” Herzog himself has described it as thus: “There are deeper strata of truth in cinema, and there is such a thing as poetic, ecstatic truth. It is mysterious and elusive, and can be reached only through fabrication and imagination and stylization.” Very few contemporary films strive to reach this stratum of the ecstatic truth, and even fewer make it there. But this challenging fare from the Parisian duo Alex and Niko lives up to this daunting task by presenting us with a faux docudrama that details in most gruesome minutia one lonely prostitute’s socio-psychological experiment of monumental significance. Ethical standards preclude scientists from conducting such experiments. But forward-thinking cinematic guerillas like Alex and Niko instead resort to the already mentioned “fabrication and imagination and stylization” to carry out the experiment in the world of celluloid and show us the shocking but inevitable result. Monika is a prostitute who collects semen from her countless johns. The film presents these johns as literally anonymous and faceless, placing a physical black bar over their faces. And then she inseminates herself with the collective semen from the countless men of all types. She eventually gives birth to a child who symbolizes the proverbial and literal “child of the world.” Her biological ancestry cannot be traced, but we know who her sociological father is. That father is all of the male gender. This film hails from the depths of the collective unconscious in which epiphany, imagination, and transgression cohabitate. It is also where psychosis and ordered behavior commingle. Alex and Niko serenade us with this threnody, a grim reminder of how we are literally killing ourselves. The final scene--one of a literal birth as well as a symbolic death--will remind some viewers of David Cronenberg’s films. And they might just walk away with mouths agape, whispering to themselves, “Long live the new flesh.”
Shockingly well-made film. Some of the finest acting I've seen in a while, which is, probably , the best thing about this film. The fact that the acting is so understated, refined, and restrained underlines the surreal brutality of the story. The true tragedy lies in the destruction of humanity, loss of hope. Where you begin, is beyond that. There no hope, no humanity, it all has been destroyed before the film even started. It's a truly post-apocalyptic worldview that you present here. The real horror stays off the screen, leaving the viewer to free fall into the abyss of impenetrable despair. That's where the acting meters so much - it's the last glimmer of humanity.
A masterpiece and a film that must be seen to be believed. Not for the faint of heart, beautifully photographed and paced. Alex et Niko are two sick geniuses and it is a pleasure to be associated with you crazy frenchmen! Well worth the dollar to watch this film!
soon on the auteurs they have to activate the movie . Or you can buy the dvd online even in USA i think
How can I watch "Born from Pain"? I tried going to the "Garage" section of the site. I hope it's available to watch in Chile. Bien à toi!! =)
Batailles' The Story of the Eye + Cronenberg's Videodrome. Creepy brilliant!
my dear lord, have i really just seen what i saw? holy MERDE!
