Enter the Void

Started by New Feeling, January 30, 2009, 01:17:55 PM

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Gamblour.

Hm. What a strange film. I thought the opening of the film was nauseating and fascinating. But he weaves in his concept via The Book of the Dead rather sloppily, and everything after that is kind of a repetitive bore. Visually, it's amazing. But still, I don't think it's a very good film, and the incestuous themes were distracting and unnecessary. I think.

The film is so overly erotic. Like I can't come up with a good reason for it, unless he's just saying this is what a soul would do, wander around and watch people have sex. But that's awfully boring, isn't it? The film is so goddamned interesting for the first 30-45 minutes. It's a shame it goes on for so long.
WWPTAD?

Ghostboy

I saw it for a third time on the big screen. I think it's gonna be one of those films.

Stefen

It was playing at the local arthouse here a couple weeks ago but I decided not to go because the screens are so awful at this theater. I opted to wait for the BD and since this is a visual film, I'm glad I waited.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

Quote from: Stefen on November 29, 2010, 11:59:10 PM
It was playing at the local arthouse here a couple weeks ago but I decided not to go because the screens are so awful at this theater. I opted to wait for the BD and since this is a visual film, I'm glad I waited.

I dont know much about that particular theater, but I'd have recommended you go anyway.  Part of this movie is watching it in a dark room with a bunch of people whispering to each other "Fucking seriously?"
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

Gamblour.

Quote from: // w ø l r å s on November 30, 2010, 10:25:00 AM
Quote from: Stefen on November 29, 2010, 11:59:10 PM
It was playing at the local arthouse here a couple weeks ago but I decided not to go because the screens are so awful at this theater. I opted to wait for the BD and since this is a visual film, I'm glad I waited.

I dont know much about that particular theater, but I'd have recommended you go anyway.  Part of this movie is watching it in a dark room with a bunch of people whispering to each other "Fucking seriously?"

That is a very good point.

Quote from: Ghostboy on July 26, 2010, 10:15:16 PM
It definitely could stand to be shortened, but I've heard that Noe's cutting out one of my favorite sequences for the American release, so I'd recommend seeing the director's cut if you can.

Which sequence was that? The movie I saw was advertised as 2:43, but it played for about 2:20.
WWPTAD?

Ravi

Saw this on Friday.  It was a late showing, and I was a little sleep-deprived with a bit of a headache.  Perfect way to see this film.  The story element of it is oddly uninventive, but the visuals and sheer audacity of the film are what make this film.  It really is quite an experience, especially on the big screen, where the images fill your vision, and you can't pause it or look away.  Its an unsettling and beautiful film.

Noe cut an entire reel out of the film.


SPOILERS








http://www.avclub.com/articles/gaspar-noe,45554/

AVC: So you're cutting the movie for American release?

GN: Actually, I like this version as it is, but I signed a contract that if the movie was over two hours 20 minutes or whatever, I would do a reduced version. The solution I found: Instead of doing another edit of the movie, is just I managed to cut the reels, I managed that the movie could work without the reel number seven.

AVC: What happens in reel seven?

GN: That's after the abortion scene, you see the abortion, and the camera flies through and hits the fetus and gets into another dimension or whatever, and he comes out, and the guy is calling, that's where reel number seven starts. You see the girl in the kiddie-land, she's depressed, and then the guy says, "Well, can you bring me my stuff? I want to see Linda" on the phone. And then there's the orgy with the two girls, and then Mario tells Linda that she's fired, and then you see him waking up at the morgue. There's all these dreams where he wakes up and doesn't wake up, and then she wakes up and says "Oh, I had a dream about my brother. We were was sitting at the morgue." And then she throws the ashes in the sink. And at that moment when the camera gets into the sink, that's where reel number eight starts, so in the reduced version, they will have the nine reels. I don't know if they're going to play the full-length version in some theaters, or only the eight-reel version. But otherwise, you'll see when the camera hits the fetus, it comes out in the, you see some cockroaches, and it comes out in the cemetery. It's not a controversial reel. There's nothing real important. Just the moment he wakes up disappears. I like it as it is, but I don't mind. I would say, my conviction is that the people like the movie for its decadence, not that it's 17 minutes shorter, that it makes any difference.

AVC: It's literally unchanged other than that?

GN: In some ways it's more dramatic, because reel number seven is kind of minimal, and otherwise you go from the abortion to Linda coming to Victor and then going to the plane, and then you got to the sex hotel, so it's not a censored version. It's just a shorter version. I like it much better the other way. But it works. People who see the short version don't notice there's anything missing at all. I don't know, maybe it's like if you do a trip, a mushroom trip or whatever; if you enjoy it, you want it to be long. They say that if you're coming down from your mushroom trip or your acid trip, you have to smoke tobacco, because it re-enhances and you can keep on going.


modage

I just had a thought.  Xixax 2003 would have gone crazy for this film.  Now it seems a little muted.

Agree/disagree?
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Ravi

Is Criterion releasing the DVD/Blu-Ray?  This is an IFC Films release in the US.

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Quote from: modage on November 30, 2010, 12:02:45 PM
I just had a thought.  Xixax 2003 would have gone crazy for this film.  Now it seems a little muted.

Agree/disagree?

I think a lot of people didn't get around to seeing it, maybe.  It's a very visceral film, I can't imagine being lukewarm to it.  I absolutely adored it, but a lot of people I work with (mostly film students or elitists in some sense) had no kind words about it.  I'm just glad there are those who enjoyed it here.  I'll be seeing Black Swan soon, but I heavily doubt it will dethrone EtV as my favorite of this year.
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

socketlevel

walrus is right in my case. i really want to see it, just haven't yet. i'll go ape shit if i see it and it's what peeps are talking about.
the one last hit that spent you...

Gamblour.

This guy completely nails EXACTLY how I feel:
WWPTAD?

72teeth

i saw it with 2Highlifes and 2bowls in me and for the first hour i was blown away... I really wish it hadnt gone on so long though, and i know it's Noe, but i wish this hadnt had gotten so dark... needed to be a little more closer to Spun that Requiem... but it did re-establish BUF as my favorite efx team... guess i was just looking for more style over substance with this one  
Doctor, Always Do the Right Thing.

Yowza Yowza Yowza

Alexandro

this kind of films reinforces my faith in cinema as an art form. enter the void is so spectacularly out there that it becomes irrelevant if it "works" or not.
It really has to be seen to be "understood" as someone else said a few posts ago, if that is the right word. More like "felt". How do you explain a film like this? To separate the parts in terms of story, narrative, aesthetic would banalize it. The experience is more important than the intellectual content, which is I guess what Noe is aiming for.

It saddens me that daring films like this and Antichrist are subjected to such vitriol from the snub critics world while complete borefests are celebrated. This is the kind of thing that should be released in IMAX 3D. Favorite of the year by far.

Fernando

where/when did you see it???


modage

They're playing the directors cut at IFC Center this weekend.

http://www.ifccenter.com/films/enter-the-void-original-uncut-version/

And Museum of the Moving Image is playing 2001:

http://www.movingimage.us/visit/calendar/2011/01/15/detail/2001-a-space-odyssey

I'm kinda thinking about going to do a crazy double-feature tomorrow.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.