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ENTER THE VOID
Where To Begin?
A drug addict dealer is killed in Japan and his soul leaves his body to look after his sister and revisit parts of his life. This was my best way of describing a film that is indescribable.
Running at an overwhelming 161 minutes, Enter The Void asks a lot from the viewer. I don't expect the causal movie goer to enjoy or get this film, I'm having a hard time myself. I appreciate the film for the technical marvel that it is, it's visually pleasing and an interesting experiment in filmmaking, but the story, or lack there of, hurts it so much that it makes the film less enjoyable.
Nathanial Brown plays Oscar, we only see him twice, both times he is looking at himself in the mirror. The rest of the time we see him, it's the back of his head. The entire film is from his point of view, literally. We see the world through his eyes, then we later see the world through his soul, which hovers over everyone. The camera work in this film is beautiful, it's always moving and you get the feel of weightlessness. The film jumps between timelines like it's nothing. We'll go from present day, to the past where the characters are kids, we even get a bit of the future.
The film is striking, visually and it has an interesting musical tone to it. The neon theme that is present throughout the film is a nice attention grabber. If the beautiful visuals don't strike you, the bizarre content will. Abortion, sex, drugs, violence, gay sex, breast feeding, nudity, a vagina's view of a penis ejaculating inside of it. You read that last part right. These images are jolting and sometimes cringe worthy.
I can't comment on the narrative structure, because all the film consists of is the character's soul watching everyone deal with his death and their lives. It doesn't really ask you to think about your existence or asks questions about life, it just presents one aspect of it. A weird one at that. The film looses the message it tried to convey because the excruciating long running time will have people checking their watch after the first hour and a half. Impressive visuals can only hold your attention for so long before you have to start asking where the hell the film is going or what it is trying to say.
Maybe people will say that the film is style over substance, I agree. The film is not for everyone, I'll tell those who want to see an impressive and technically accomplished film to check this one out. I would advise those looking for a straight forward narrative to skip it. Enter The Void is cold and vibrant at the same time. It opens with the credits, flies past them like they mean nothing. So you know that the film does right up to the last minute of the run time. If you can find the symbolism, then congrats. I was struggling with this one at times. The death, re-birth aspect was lost to all the chaos that was before it. I can see where the director got his inspiration from, the polarizing film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The final 20 minutes of the film takes a soft core porn turn, where all the characters are having some sort of sexual interaction with another in the LOVE hotel. The lead character makes a comment earlier in the film about how cool would it be to be able to see inside the hotel and see everyone having sex. He then does this later while he is a ghost/soul thing. Enter The Void is something that I won't be bothered to remember days from now. I appreciate it and I loath it. It's one of those films.
Who else has seen this? I need to know your thoughts.
Where To Begin?
A drug addict dealer is killed in Japan and his soul leaves his body to look after his sister and revisit parts of his life. This was my best way of describing a film that is indescribable.
Running at an overwhelming 161 minutes, Enter The Void asks a lot from the viewer. I don't expect the causal movie goer to enjoy or get this film, I'm having a hard time myself. I appreciate the film for the technical marvel that it is, it's visually pleasing and an interesting experiment in filmmaking, but the story, or lack there of, hurts it so much that it makes the film less enjoyable.
Nathanial Brown plays Oscar, we only see him twice, both times he is looking at himself in the mirror. The rest of the time we see him, it's the back of his head. The entire film is from his point of view, literally. We see the world through his eyes, then we later see the world through his soul, which hovers over everyone. The camera work in this film is beautiful, it's always moving and you get the feel of weightlessness. The film jumps between timelines like it's nothing. We'll go from present day, to the past where the characters are kids, we even get a bit of the future.
The film is striking, visually and it has an interesting musical tone to it. The neon theme that is present throughout the film is a nice attention grabber. If the beautiful visuals don't strike you, the bizarre content will. Abortion, sex, drugs, violence, gay sex, breast feeding, nudity, a vagina's view of a penis ejaculating inside of it. You read that last part right. These images are jolting and sometimes cringe worthy.
I can't comment on the narrative structure, because all the film consists of is the character's soul watching everyone deal with his death and their lives. It doesn't really ask you to think about your existence or asks questions about life, it just presents one aspect of it. A weird one at that. The film looses the message it tried to convey because the excruciating long running time will have people checking their watch after the first hour and a half. Impressive visuals can only hold your attention for so long before you have to start asking where the hell the film is going or what it is trying to say.
Maybe people will say that the film is style over substance, I agree. The film is not for everyone, I'll tell those who want to see an impressive and technically accomplished film to check this one out. I would advise those looking for a straight forward narrative to skip it. Enter The Void is cold and vibrant at the same time. It opens with the credits, flies past them like they mean nothing. So you know that the film does right up to the last minute of the run time. If you can find the symbolism, then congrats. I was struggling with this one at times. The death, re-birth aspect was lost to all the chaos that was before it. I can see where the director got his inspiration from, the polarizing film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The final 20 minutes of the film takes a soft core porn turn, where all the characters are having some sort of sexual interaction with another in the LOVE hotel. The lead character makes a comment earlier in the film about how cool would it be to be able to see inside the hotel and see everyone having sex. He then does this later while he is a ghost/soul thing. Enter The Void is something that I won't be bothered to remember days from now. I appreciate it and I loath it. It's one of those films.
Who else has seen this? I need to know your thoughts.
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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."
Suspect's Reviews
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."
Suspect's Reviews
