Apologies for coming into this discussion with something as gauche as a link to a blogpost that I wrote not long after seeing this at the London Film Festival, but I’m exhausted & thought it worthwhile to at least let William check it out:
I have to agree with everything he said. Enter The Void is shocking & explicit, but it really is uplifting. A genuine feelgood movie, @Deckard Croix! Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true. A lot of critical comment (such as the reviews in Village Voice & Variety) have approached Enter The Void as an empty exercise in shock, but as with Von Trier’s Antichrist (a howl of pain more direct and honest than I ever thought the great curmudgeon was capable of), there is zero cynicism here. Yes, there are horrors here, but there has to be horror. Early in the movie Alex describes the afterlife as depicted in The Tibetan Book of the Dead. It’s imperative you pay attention to this description, as it holds the key to parsing the rest of the movie. Without that knowledge, the movie will seem random & exploitative. With that key, the movie becomes something else: heartfelt & moving. On top of that, it’s the most astonishing sensory blowout in years. Your eyes & ears will buzz for days after experiencing it.
At the moment no one seems to want to distribute it. That’s a crying shame. It’s the next big cult movie of our time. I wish that the Prince Charles in London could cough up for a print and show it as a midnight movie on Saturdays. Word of mouth would make it a regular sell out after a few weeks. Until then, only a lucky few get to see it. Sadface.
Enter the Void - A stunning, shocking celebration of life from Gaspar Noe over 2 years ago
Apologies for coming into this discussion with something as gauche as a link to a blogpost that I wrote not long after seeing this at the London Film Festival, but I’m exhausted & thought it worthwhile to at least let William check it out:
http://shadesofcaruso.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/how-gaspar-noe-broke-open-my-head/
I have to agree with everything he said. Enter The Void is shocking & explicit, but it really is uplifting. A genuine feelgood movie, @Deckard Croix! Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true. A lot of critical comment (such as the reviews in Village Voice & Variety) have approached Enter The Void as an empty exercise in shock, but as with Von Trier’s Antichrist (a howl of pain more direct and honest than I ever thought the great curmudgeon was capable of), there is zero cynicism here. Yes, there are horrors here, but there has to be horror. Early in the movie Alex describes the afterlife as depicted in The Tibetan Book of the Dead. It’s imperative you pay attention to this description, as it holds the key to parsing the rest of the movie. Without that knowledge, the movie will seem random & exploitative. With that key, the movie becomes something else: heartfelt & moving. On top of that, it’s the most astonishing sensory blowout in years. Your eyes & ears will buzz for days after experiencing it.
At the moment no one seems to want to distribute it. That’s a crying shame. It’s the next big cult movie of our time. I wish that the Prince Charles in London could cough up for a print and show it as a midnight movie on Saturdays. Word of mouth would make it a regular sell out after a few weeks. Until then, only a lucky few get to see it. Sadface.
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