Enter The Void [HD]

Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void
If there was ever a two minute opening credit sequence that could grab me by the balls, it's from Gaspar Noé's Enter the Void. I'm confident it will have that effect on most people. You can see it here if you don't believe me. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's a strange beginning when considering the way it contrasts with the rest of the film. This hyper-frenetic, psychedelic introduction is the star of a film running around two and a half hours, and you'll feel every minute of its run time.

Noé has made a career as provocateur. His last few films involve a level of violence, sex and depravity (and a mixture of all three) that anyone could argue is excessive and exploitive. The problem, however, is that Noé is so talented, it can't altogether be dismissed. It reminds of Lars von Trier, and his latest film Antichrist. Enter the Void doesn't represent a marked change in style for Noé. All the base elements are there: sex, drugs,...

Over-long, but visually unique
Disclaimer: I viewed this film as a streaming rental, and as such, cannot comment on the audio or visual quality of the disc. My review concerns the entertainment value of the film itself.

Bound to appeal to only a small subset of film buffs (though to them it should have an intense appeal), 'Enter the Void' is an exploration of the split seconds between life and death, and an experimental trip through method and technique of film-making. Gaspar Noe, the director of 'Irreversible', is the real star here, as this is above all the vision of the helmsman rather than a vehicle for its actors. In fact, several of the key players were first-time unprofessionals, although that made little difference if any toward the film's overall effectiveness. To me, success or failure for this particular sort of film is better measured by how well it communicates its ideas rather than by more traditional yardsticks - but having said that, it's also important to note that a reliance on...

The unconscious can be counted on to remember...
Spoilers herein!

The primordial notion behind it is rebirth, but rebirth not only in the actual reincarnated physical sense, as is ultimately consummated, but also rebirth in the sense of being reintegrated with the breast; the notion of incest is absolutely pulsating throughout the entire film, and the metamorphosis of characters experienced throughout the sexual encounters is brutally direct in this sense. It would seem that the dream-like state one is immersed in after death is what allows the maximal realization of this basic instinctive drive, since it would be a state in which all repression is lifted, and desire can be experienced in its purest, most raw form without the nay-saying psychic censor beeping like crazy. This is clearly too threatening for a conscious "normal" person to face up to in their everyday experience, thus dreams and reality are distorted to conform to our particular compromise formations, allowing us to live day-to-day without being overburdened...

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