DAILY FILM DOSE: A Daily Film Appreciation and Review Blog: Enter the Void

Sunday 3 October 2010

Enter the Void


Enter the Void (2009) dir. by Gaspar Noé
Starring Nathaniel Brown and Paz de la Huerta


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By Blair Stewart

KRAZEE CREDIT SEQUENCE! STROBING LIGHTS! LOUD NOISES! TOKYO BUZZING AT NIGHT! MOST LIKELY FILMED AROUND SHINJUKU AND SHIBUYA! PAZ DE LA HUERTA AS THE INCESTIOUS SISTER! THAT NATHANIEL BROWN GUY CAN'T DELIVER HIS DIALOGUE FOR SHIT! "FREAK" BY LFO IS A GOOD SONG! 'THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD' AS YOUR THEMATIC CENTERPIECE! MAN, WHENS THE LAST TIME I SMOKED WEED? THREE YEARS? I SHOULD HAVE SMOKED WEED FOR THIS! STROBE LIGHTS! GUNSHOTS! PAZ DE LA HUERTA NAKED....YEAH! TONS OF CGI! 'POWER. SEX. MONEY.' IS A CLEVER NAME FOR A STRIP CLUB! MORE STROBING LIGHTS! NOW MY NOSE IS BLEEDING, THANKS GASPAR! COMPARISONS TO MONTGOMERY'S 1947 "LADY IN THE LAKE" SHOOTING-STYLE IS NIFTY AND ALL BUT I'M ALSO REMINDED OF BIGELOW'S UNDERRATED 1995 CYBERPUNK FLICK "STRANGE DAYS"! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT BROWN FELLA SMOKING? DMT? YOU CAN SMOKE THAT? I'M GOING TO BUY THE FILM SCORE BY THOMAS BANGALTER OF DAFT PUNK, HIS WORK IS STERLING! I HOPE DAFT PUNK'S SOUNDTRACK FOR THE NEXT "TRON" MOVIE BUSTS SOME HEADS AND TAKES SOME NAMES! TONS AND TONS AND TONS OF CRUNKED-OUT BASS LINES! WHY IS EVERY WOMAN IN THIS FILM A LUSTY BABE AND NAKED AND SCREWING EVERYONE?

OH WAIT SAME THING GOES FOR THE DUDES IN THIS! WALL-TO-WALL SEX! IS GASPAR NOE A DRUG-MUNCHING RABBIT? THANK GOODNESS THERE ISN'T ANY BRUTAL RAPE SCENES LIKE NOE'S REVILED/REVERED "IRREVERSIBLE"! BECAUSE OF GASPAR NOE'S ENFANT TERRIBLE NATURE LIKE ANY NEW WORK BY TARANTINO OR VON TRIER OR PARK CHAN-WOOK HIS FILMS ADD AN ELEMENT OF DANGER AND SPECTACLE TO THEATERS THAT A 100 BASHFUL SUNDANCE INDIE DARLINGS CAN'T MATCH! OUTSIDE OF THIS WORK WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SEX IN MATURE MODERN CINEMA, BOTH MAINSTREAM AND ART-HOUSE? THE BY-GONE DAYS OF "DAMAGE" AND "LAST TANGO IN PARIS", YOU KNOW? I BLAME THE INTERNET!

SOME OF THE DIALOGUE IN THIS FILM IS AWFUL,
YET LOTS OF SHINY, SHINY LIGHTS!

DIMETHYLTRYPTAMINE!

GRAPHIC CAR CRASH! PAZ DE LA HUERTA NAKED ONCE AGAIN! WAIT, I PUFFED ON A JOINT OUTSIDE OF THAT 'COOL' BAR IN SHOREDITCH A YEAR AND A HALF AGO WITH THAT HIPSTER GUY FROM SPAIN! THAT GUY WAS A HORSE'S ASS AND TWICE AS DULL! GREAT SET DESIGN BY MARC CARO OF "DELICATESSEN" ACCLAIM AND HIS CREW! NOW OUR P.O.V. IS THE BROWN GUY'S SPIRIT FLOATING THROUGHOUT HIS SHORT LIFE AND OVER/IN/AROUND TOKYO! "ENTER THE VOID" BUDGET COST ABOUT 1/10TH OF WHAT WAS SPENT TO MAKE "AVATAR", BUT I FIND THIS FILM TO BE MUCH MORE BEAUTIFUL IN ITS TECHNICOLOR DAY-GLO SPLENDOR!

HOORAY FOR CINEMATOGRAPHER BENOIT DEBIE AND BUF COMPAGNIE'S VISUAL EFFECTS!

PAZ DE LA HUERTA NAKED....YET AGAIN! SOME OF THESE CHARACTERS ARE STOCK AT BEST, BUT THE FILM SEEMS TO BE BUILT FOR EXPERIENCING ON AN ENTIRELY EMOTIONAL LEVEL INSTEAD OF AN ANALYTICAL LEVEL, OTHERWISE IT'S QUITE FLIMSY! I MUST ADMIT THOUGH, IT IS AN EXPERIENCE! THE DIRECTOR'S CUT IS THREE-AND-A-HALF HOURS LONG! I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO STOMACH THAT VERSION!

PEOPLE WHO SAY YOU'LL EITHER LOVE OR HATE "ENTER THE VOID" ARE FULL OF SHIT, IT HAS GLARING FLAWS AS I'VE MENTIONED ABOVE BUT IT HAS ITS QUALITIES TOO! YOU COULD SAY THE SAME ABOUT MANY OF KUBRICK'S FILMS, HIS "2001" WAS A BIG INFLUENCE HERE! PINK FLOYD'S "THE WALL" BY ALAN PARKER IS VASTLY OVERRATED IN STONER CIRCLES!

SOME MORE DISTURBING IMAGERY, ITS RATED 18A FOR A REASON, YOU WERE WARNED! NEON TWINKLING TOKYO! ORGIES! PAZ DE LA HUERTA MIGHT BE AN EXHIBITIONIST!

I JUST WANNA DANCE! RIDICULOUS FINAL MINUTES, BUT APPROPRIATE AFTER WHAT'S PRECEDED IT! DESPITE MY ISSUES NOE'S LATEST TRIP IS A GREAT LIVE-ACTION DRUGGIE TRIP ON PAR WITH GILLIAM'S TAKE ON "FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS"!

I JUST HAD AN ACID FLASHBACK, AND I'VE NEVER TAKEN ACID!
DO YOU HAVE ANY WEED?

HERE COMES THE EPILEPSY!

2 comments :

Patrick said...

There's an episode of The Vice Guide to Film where they visit the set of this movie. Worth seeing - as are the rest of the episodes.

Blair Stewart said...

Thanks Patrick, I'll watch it despite my distrust of all things Vice Magazine.