Death and Freudian Nightmares

(Click image for trailer)

Enter the Void (2010), by Gaspar Noé           Rating: 9/10

     As a fan of Foreign and Independent Films one gets used to expect the un-expectable, the weird and the avant-garde. In my opinion, it is the unconventional styles independent filmmakers sometimes decide to take what attracts me more towards the independent film scene. Larger scale movies almost never have any intention in bringing us something new and innovative, they just follow a certain filmmaking formula to make money-making movies. That does not mean they’re not good or worth seeing, it just means that these films are usually made for other purposes. Independent filmmakers striving for acclaim and recognition are the ones who have the guts to bend and break all rules to bring something new and different to the filming arts. It is in the independent film scene where we can find true art in the film industry. When I first saw Enter the Void  for the first time, that was exactly what I encountered: the weirdest,  most mind-blowing form of art I have ever experienced.

(Scene from Enter the Void)

     Director Gaspar Noé breaks all filmmaking rules, bends reality in a way that will leave you questioning what you are experiencing as you watch the film; it will hypnotize you from the credits to the end, it will capture you and forcefully take you into the most horrifying, yet mesmerizing, of nightmares that are as peaceful and soothing as they are disturbing and terrifying. It might as well can be considered one of the best, most successful films in the Indie Film scene in the recent years. It is also one of the hardest films for anyone to watch.   This film takes the concept of taboo and makes love to it. We experience the character’s most dark, intimate secrets as if they were our own.

(I assure you, it gets weirder than this)

     Orphaned as a child and recently reunited with his estranged younger sister, Oscar (Nathaniel Brown), an American young man, is living in Tokyo, Japan and working as a drug dealer. Oscar’s sister, Linda (Paz de la Huerta), works as a stripper/prostitute in a popular nightclub called “The Void." A friend recommends him and old Buddhist book called “The Tibetan Book of the Dead,” which explains the whole concept of death and what happens after you die all the way until reincarnation. Very early into the film he decides to smoke a hallucinogenic drug called DMT. After a while, he gets a call from another friend asking for some drugs, and tells him to meet him to make the transaction. In an unexpected turn of events, Oscar gets shot and killed thirty minutes into the movie. The rest of the film is Oscar’s out of body experience, revisiting terrible moments from his past, exploring his most dark, private secret desires, stalking his sister into her nightlife as a prostitute in “The Void” and witnessing the effect his death had on the people he knew, all in an successful attempt to closely study Oscar’s psychology as if it was our own. But that’s not all, and the plot is definitely not what makes this film so amazing. What marks this film as a work of filming art is Noé’s unique style and it’s filmmaking itself. Since the very first second of the movie you will be wondering “How the hell was this movie made? How was this script written? How was it even filmed?” You will be questioning every technical aspect of the film, almost as if you were trying to figure out  a magician’s magic trick.

(Oscar staring at his sister, Linda)

(Oscar stares at his bloody hands and gunshot wound)

(Oscar’s stares down at his dead body)

     The movie is literally seen through Oscar’s eyes to the point that you can only see his face when he looks at himself through a mirror. You see him blink, you hear him think, you hear his voice a little louder than the rest of the characters, as if you were listening to your own voice, hearing your own thoughts, seeing through your own eyes. Noé literally (and purposefully) makes voyeurs of the film’s audience. It is the most uncomfortable and awkward sensation ever. Now think back when I said that Oscar gets high on the hallucinogenic drug, DMT. Now, dear reader, try to imagine how this particular style could work in that scene. Exactly. Noé goes as far as to literally make the audience feel the sensation of getting high as Oscar gets high: his vision gets blurry, thoughts echo randomly into his head, time slows down, colors blur and merge, then suddenly, darkness. Then, the film gives us fifteen minutes of mesmerizing, mind-blowing visuals of colors and designs that will leave you hypnotized, not wanting to look away, wanting to experience every second of it.  As amazing as that may sound (or not), Noé not only gives you the most amazing high yet on film and forcefully makes you mind-rape a person, it also forces you to experience death itself, turns you into a ghost and makes you witness the most intimate aspects of all the film’s characters. By the end of the movie, you will end up feeling like a big supernatural pervert.

(Psychedelic visuals in one of Oscar’s flashbacks)

     Crane shots of the city of Tokyo as Oscar’s spirit flies through the skies will make your jaw drop. Scenes of graphic sex and hard drug use and incestual desire will disturb and haunt you forever. The highly psychedelic and drug-inspired visuals of the city of Tokyo, Oscar’s mind and the spiritual world will keep you mesmerized even in the most suspenseful or intense scenes. The plot will both make you fall in love with the movie and despise it at the same time. This exceptional movie is a visual poem full of symbols of the worst Freudian Nightmares one can imagine. Like it or not, one must admit that this movie strives to change film narrative as we know it, and in many ways it accomplishes it with great success. Noé challenges his audience and purposefully makes it as difficult to watch as possible for the viewers. He breaks every rule to capture the viewer and make him part of his film. He gives you an unforgettable experience that you will never see anywhere again. Every aspect of this film is innovative and unforgettable. With just a small amount of unconvincing acting and an extreme length in movie time (161 minutes), the rest of the movie is simply a successful experiment with visual narrative, a masterpiece of the filming arts. I rate it 9/10, an amazing, yet terribly challenging, odd  and controversial experience.  

    Until next time, this is This is Freddy Lizardz with Words on Film. Peace.

Thanks for sharing!