Enter the Void

France, 2009
Director: Gaspar Noe
Starring: Paz de la Huerta, Nathaniel Brown
IMDB: 7.4

I'm going to cut straight to the chase. Enter the Void is a downright masterpiece, it simply pushes all the right buttons ... for me. I could say your mileage may vary, but I'll go a step further. Your mileage WILL vary, and I'll explain why shortly. Enter the Void is an edgy, experimental, visceral, mind-blowing experience that will more than polarise audiences, so uncompromising is director Gaspar Noe in his vision.

Anyone familiar with Noe's last film Irreversible will be aware he is not one to shy away from shocking the viewer - in fact its something that he strives for. It's safe to say he has not chosen to change his ways here! This is a truly adult movie ... and anyone with hangups about sex, drugs, or violence should stay well away. An open adult mind is a prerequisite.

The film wastes no time in establishing the impact it intends - right from the get-go the opening titles slam into the screen in rapid-fire succession accompanied by a suitably pounding soundtrack. These were impressive enough to be followed by excited applause at the festival premier I attended. The crowd were in high spirits, ready to laugh and interact with the movie in true festival tradition. But it wasn't long before everyone was deadly silent as they were gripped by the intensity of what was unfolding.

Enter the Void is based in Tokyo, and centers around siblings Oscar and Linda. After losing their parents at a very early age the two become extremely close, and Linda makes Oscar promise never to leave her. Nevertheless, they are fostered out to separate homes, and when we first meet Oscar he is living in Tokyo, desperately trying to raise the money to allow his sister to join him.



Being a bit of a drug fiend, its not long before he hits upon the obvious way to raise a bit of quick money - dealing drugs. In the seedy underbelly of Tokyo, in a country notoriously anti-drugs ... this is a dangerous proposition.

The first major scene of the movie involves Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) getting high on DMT. The sound, visuals and atmosphere of this scene are the most impressive translation of a hallucinogenic experience that I have ever seen in a movie. Noe has stated that his inspiration for the film's neon look came from his experimentation with the drug DMT / Ayahuasca - and for what its worth, he compares the effect to the movie Tron.

And its Noe's extraordinary success in representing this state of mind that will turn off many viewers. It's all a bit vague, blurry, and disorienting ... the film fully immerses you in the trip, and is in no great hurry to bring you back down again.

The viewer is taken on a wonderfully psychedelic joyride both inside and outside of Oscar's mind, and into and out of The Void. The visuals are spectacular, thanks in part to the design input of Marc Caro (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children), and the camera takes an almost first person perspective being firmly located just behind Oscar's head for most of the film's run time.



The plot makes use of concepts from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a text that describes the state of consciousness after death, and explicitly compares the experience to the effects of the drug DMT (a well-known effect of the drug). To say more will require entering spoiler territory, suffice to say that this metaphysical idea is fully explored as a major concept of the movie.

Once Linda (Paz de la Huerta) arrives in Tokyo, she soon discovers the easiest way for an attractive young foreign woman to earn a living in a city where western women are very popular. The neon visuals of the strip bar she works in segue seamlessly into the previously mentioned psychedelic motif, and the leggy lead actress throws all modesty to the wind in an extremely brave performance.



Which brings us to the sex. There is quite a lot of it, and its reasonably explicit. Explicit enough to warrant a hefty adult rating anyway. Especially when Noe's swooping camera travels room to room through a love hotel, an idea that would have been utterly exploitational and voyeuristic were it not for the integral plot detail that it served.



As mentioned earlier, Noe is no stranger to hitting the viewer between the eyes with visceral and explosive violence. Some scenes had the impact, almost literally, of being hit in the face with a sledgehammer. This is an aspect of the movie that would surely be best experienced in a theater.

Noe takes his trademark floating camera aesthetic to new heights of excellence here, in combination with some remarkable CGI. This technique caused a lot of excitement when used in Irreversible, but here is used to much greater effect, especially as this time its not just a method but perhaps the best way to portray the story. Some scenes are absolutely breathtaking in scope, and while I was too busy enjoying the ride to bother with technical analysis, I am quite certain that some of these scenes were actually impossible. No doubt the eventual DVD will explain how it was done, and would be fascinating in itself.

The sound of the movie likewise fits the surreal and psychedelic tone, but more in the way David Lynch will use sounds to engender an emotional response without the explicit use of songs per se.

I've not wanted to give too much away in this review, but I hope it comes across just what an ambitious film this is. Noe takes the viewer on a roller-coaster experience in more ways than one, and here 'experience' is the key word. The only criticism I could make of the movie is that at times it is slow and occasionally repetitive. But in this regard it is worthwhile to note that one of Noe's biggest influences for this movie was Kubrick's 2001. Another movie with lengthy non-verbal sequences. It seems quite experimental in nature - you need to let it wash over you, immerse yourself in the alternate realities it presents.

To quote Hunter S. Thompson ... "Buy the ticket, take the ride" and catch it on the big screen if at all possible.

34% of viewers on IMDB rate Enter The Void a 10/10 ... I'm one of them.

Postscript: To learn more about Noe's influences for the film, I highly recommend checking out the documentaries DMT: The Spirit Molecule, and Tibetan Book of the Dead narrated by Leonard Cohen.

Get another opinion

@ Axe Wound. A great review with more details of the plot.
@ The Playlist. For the opposing viewpoint (beware, spoilers)

Vanilla Sky

USA, 2001

Director: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kurt Russell, Jason Lee, Tilda Swinton
IMDB: 6.9

Hollywood remakes of foreign films often suck - they take a great film, dumb it down, take out the good bits, and apply the usual Hollywood formula to excrete a pale imitation of the original.

The film that Vanilla Sky is based on, Alejandro Amenabar's Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) is one of my all-time favourite films. And amazingly, so is this. Cameron Crowe took the opportunity to not only remake the movie, but to enhance it as well.

What Crowe brings to the table (aside from translating it from the original Spanish into English) is markedly improved visuals, a killer soundtrack, a large ensemble cast, and a further layering of the plot's surreal aspects. The only downside to this version, in my opinion, is the casting of Tom Cruise in the lead role, whose acting is less realistic than that of Eduardo Noriega in the original. However, as his character is rich, superficial, and arrogant - it's a character-type that Cruise plays well. (Like he did in Magnolia)



When this film was made, complex twisted plots were enjoying huge popularity (Eg: Fight Club, Mulholland Drive, Donnie Darko, Memento). Vanilla Sky very much fits into this style of film-making, being a film with an intelligent science fiction plot, and a density of ideas that only multiple viewings fully reveal.

It also has a distinctly surreal and dream-like atmosphere, which absolutely fits the script once you realise what the film is actually about (which for most viewers would be towards the end of the film).



Being a remake, Crowe can't take credit for the plot, but the main storyline is an incredibly unique and original idea, and in my opinion one of the best sci-fi scripts in recent times.

David Aames (Cruise) is a good looking rich kid who has inherited his father's company and breezes through life with the kind of nonchalance that fabulous wealth affords. Of course he has no trouble with the ladies, and is currently banging his fuck buddy, Julie Gianni (Diaz), not realising that she's taking it much more seriously than he is.



"You fucked me four times last night David. You've been inside me, I've swallowed your cum. That means something!", she shrieks upon discovering that he now has a new infatuation - the free-spirited and down-to-earth, Sofia (Penelope Cruz).

David is immediately smitten and falls head over heels for her. Cruz here is extremely charming, and makes the love-at-first-sight angle totally believable. It beats me why she gets such a bad rap from some critics. The movie briefly enters romance territory here, which helps explain the motivations for David's later actions.



What happens next is a twisted love triangle between Cruise, Cruz and Diaz - which has terrible consequences for the rich boy ... consequences that he tries to buy his way out of.

How he does this however, is not revealed until the end of the film, at which point the viewer realises that at least half of the film was not what it appeared to be. (Although you can have fun on repeat watches spotting the clues).




Without giving too much away, David begins hallucinating to the point where we can never be sure exactly what his reality truly is, and by extension what the film's reality is. This results in an awesomely twisted sex scene involving himself Julie and Sofia, a romantic entanglement more metaphysical than physical, but all the more poignant for it. And lets be honest here, if you're going to hallucinate, sharing your bed with Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz is not a bad way to go!

As mentioned, the supporting cast is impressive. Tilda Swinton, Jason Lee, Timothy Spall, and Noah Taylor all have small but memorable appearances. Kurt Russell is also excellent here, and gets one of the most jaw-dropping scenes when he realises that he's not at all who he thought he was. That scene just blows my mind every time.



As readers of this blog will note, I am a huge fan of movies with great soundtracks, and considering that Cameron Crowe is an ex-Rolling Stone journalist with a long history in the music industry - its not at all surprising that he's pulled together an excellent and diverse group of songs that are both meaningful and sonically excellent.

Any director that finds a way to include the little known gem from The Rolling Stones 'Tattoo You' album (Heaven) has really got their musical shit sorted as far as I'm concerned. But additionally there are choice cuts from Sigur Ros, Radiohead, REM, Thievery Corporation, Underworld, The Chemical Bros, Bob Dylan, U2 and more.

Even the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations in the penultimate scene provides an unexpectedly well-suited atmosphere as Cruise desperately calls for "Tech Support !!!!!!". Another killer scene in a movie that has quite a few.

Undoubtedly Crowe labored long and hard over the soundtrack - its not just the song selection, but the way they've been used which is impressive.

The critics were divided over this film, but its IMDB rating has been slowly creeping up as it reaches the kind of moviegoer who will appreciate it. It's certainly not the kind of film that your average (popcorn) Cruise fan will expect, and perhaps that was part of the problem. I also suspect that many viewers who would really like this film were put off by his involvement.

If you have not seen this film yet, do yourself a favour and check it out. Don't be put off by the film's poster/cover art which in my opinion was an epic fail. It doesn't convey the quality, the intelligence, nor the type of film it is at all, and certainly won't attract the audience who would best appreciate it.

I'm a total sucker for mindfuck movies with killer soundtracks, so my rating is ...

10/10. No question.

PS: Also, check out the original, Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes).

Thirst

Korea, 2009
Original title: Bakjwi

Director: Park Chan-wook
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Kim Hae-sook
IMDB: 7.5

Director Park Chan-wook's previous film, Oldboy, was a huge fan favourite and helped cement his place as one of the most interesting Korean directors working today. And for me personally, that film remains one of my all-time favourite Korean movies.

Hearing that Thirst, his new film, had a vampiric theme subsequently had me in eager anticipation all year. What can one of the most exciting directors in Asia bring to the well-established, and frequently all too predictable, vampire genre?

As it turns out, Park has chosen not to mess with the established standards of vampire mythology - they still burn in sunlight and feast on the warm blood of humans - but aside from that, Thirst is a refreshingly original take on the genre.



Firstly, our vampiric protagonist Sang-hyeon (Song Kang-ho) is also a devout priest with a penchant for self-flagellation. Having volunteered for a dangerous medical research position, he becomes infected with the lethal flesh-eating Emanuel virus.

For reasons that are a little unclear, he decides to drink the blood of another patient, which miraculously allows him to survive the infection. However the respite is temporary, and regular 'top-ups' are required. It seems that the blood that saved him had an unexpected side-effect - vampirism!



In any case, soon enough our main man, riddled with virus and vampire blood coursing through his veins, starts hallucinating. This adds a surrealistic touch to proceedings as the story starts its descent into feverishly twisted depths.

While grappling with his newfound vampire status and loss of faith, he begins an illicit affair with Tae-ju (Kim Ok-bin), the wife of one of his childhood friends, and its not long before they're getting it on at every opportunity. Seems poor Tae-ju has been deprived of lovin' for far too long!



Not to give too much away, the film then follows the duo's burgeoning relationship ... and in the time-honoured tradition of vampire movies, rest assured there's loads of sex and blood, and the odd bit of ultra-violence thrown in for good measure. Just what we here at Twisted Flicks are rather fond of!

As previously mentioned, the movie has quite a surreal feel to it, especially towards the end, and a twisted sense of absurdist humour is sprinkled throughout. In fact in the last half hour especially the movie is extremely funny, in no small part due to the fantastic acting of Kim Ok-bin who I'll definitely be watching out for in the future.




There are some great special effects, used intelligently and in context, and it must be noted that using wirework in a vampire movie may be one of the rare occasions in Asian films that absurd flying skills actually make sense.

As can be seen by the screencaps included below, Park doesn't let us down in the cinematography department either, with the visuals often being stunning and artfully composed. No doubt this is a master at work.



All this being said, I suspect that the audience who will enjoy this will be small. But those who might appreciate it know who you are, and its probably why you read this blog. For what its worth, the film took home a special jury prize at Cannes.

Twisted Flicks rating: 9/10

Screenshots (click to view)

Trailer