Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
THX77B is easily the strangest denizen of our chat room, a manic little guy from Greece who loves movies desperately and whose dyslexia combined with the language barrier turns him into an endless source of demented fanboy rants. This morning, he wants to share his excitement and his horror regarding IRREVERSIBLE with you. Please... go easy on his strangled syntax in the Talk Backs. He means well...
Hey Mor, this is your worst nightmare thx777b. I saw IRREVERSIBLE last weekend and i wanted to send you my review in case you want to use it:
It was friday night when i went to my video club to pick a few movies up. A few days before that i was reading Harry's "TOP-TEN films of 2002" article and one of the films listed was IRREVERSIBLE, a french film i have heared very little about. Harry's refrence to it made me interested to see it. At the video club while browsing through the new europian films in my suprise i saw that IRREVERSIBLE just came in. I asked for it but the video club guy told me that the dvd was out SO i asked if he had a vhs copy somewhere. He had one and so i rent the vhs version rather than the dvd one.
Harry described this film as "This is a film to be scared of. This isn’t a sexy erotic film. This isn’t a movie to wank to as you look at Monica Bellucci." Nothing he could say can really tell you how more this film is. With one phrase. Its the thing nightmares are made of. Nothing could prepare me for that Saturday afternoon when i pushed play. This is a film about the lowest a human can drop, the lowest actions and the most evil deeds. This film is an eye(of the viewer?) watching at the things you only listen at TV news but never really see. Things like rape...
First of all let me just write down the plot in a few lines for all you who don't know it. SPOILERS In a nutshell, quoting EMPIRE MAGAZINE: "Pierre kills a man in revenge for an attack on Alex. Alex is raped in a subway after leaving a party. Alex leaves the party. Alex, Marcus and Pierre travel to the party. Alex and Marcus are happy in their home before leaving for the party. A blissful Alex finds she is pregnant." END OF SPOILERS
The events in the movie happen backwords just like in MEMENTO but do not rush into thinking this as a europian rip-off. Because its not. The events are told backwords only to give a more powerful emotional outcome to the viewer. There is a reason why the film is told in backwords. You will understant when you see it. It couldn't have worked any other way. If it was told in linear fashion then the film would have been just another drama about rape. I am glad director Gaspar Noé used this form of storytelling wisely.
The way violence and nudity is used during the first half of this film is not a simple gore fest or a thing to get you horny. Its horror! REAL HORROR. I can't stress this enough. Its like someone forced you to take a pick at HELL. I have seen quite a lot of violent films in my life. But let me tell you this IRREVERSIBLE made me push STOP more than three times just to get a breath or spit in disguss. This is the film which some 18 year olds in chat rooms who think that rape is overrated and that some women actually enjoy it will change there minds by a long mile. This film must be shown in high schools. This is not an erotic, romantic, sexual film. Its the closest you will ever get to movie realism on the topic that the film deals with. After watching Noe's masterpiece i had to pass a 24 hour depresing mode till i started feeling normal.
Other than the strong narrative of the film what also makes it exeptional is the use of Noe's camera. The cinematography of the film is a wonder by itself. The movie was photographed by Noe himself and Benoît Debie. The camera is a flying eye. It hovers above, below and across the action like some kind of spirit. I can't describe it, you must see it for yourself. Think of EVIL DEAD meets THE MATRIX...
As for the acting, everyone is doing there jobs here. Top perfomance by Monica Bellucci, Albert Dupontel and Vincent Cassel. But the real star of the film is the directing. Stylish but at the same time cruel and hyper-realistic. Esoteric and ugly. If some of you have seen Noe's other film 1998's I STAND ALONE, will spot a cameo by Philippe Nahon in the same role as in that movie.
Summing it all up, this is one of the best films i have seen lately. One of the most powerful expiriences I had from a film in a long time. I heared from other people in the AICN chat rooms who have seen this in a theatre reporting that many people in there screenings couldn't take what they were watching and just stood up and left. Anyway have to go now, i hope my two cents helped. Adios amigos.
P.S. Note the way Noe's used the starchild poster of 2001: A SPACE ODYSEY in the film(during the last 1/3)... Film Making 101. What did Tarantino say? "I didn't go to film school I went to films."... oh and sorry for the spelling and gramatical errors, i am both dyslexic and non-english.
thx777b
Another of our readers also just laid eyes on this film, and is still reeling from the experience. Reading reviews like this only increases my resolve to see this one as soon as possible...
Mori,
Just saw Irreversible on the Monday. I really wanted to get my thoughts out however pretentious and incomprehensible they might seem. Seems many people are still rejecting this film and walking out. I just want people to give it a try. You know you've spent the money so why walk out. This is brave filmmaking. It's innovative. Just read the review please:
You step out your door, you get out your car, you hit the platform from the train. You leave the club early or late, you take a taxi or you walk. None of this matters because at any moment life can turn from sunshine to shitstorm.
In Gasper Noe’s new film Irreversible this transition is depicted with such a visceral quality that some viewers have critiqued with their feet and walked out in many screenings. It happened in mine, and my response is a disgust that surpasses anything they might feel regarding the film. By walking out these people are attempting to avoid the very reality they find themselves immersed in day to day. In fact the moment they hit the light outside and leave that cinema behind they’ve fallen into step with Monica Bellucci’s, the very person they have tried to avoid. When she leaves the party in the film and hits that underpass she is immersed in her reality; her relationship with Vincent Cassell’s Marcus, her friendship with Pierre (Albert Dupontel) and a beautiful secret of her own. But then she is brutally raped and beaten.
The rape itself is the centre of the film; it’s cold heart. From this Noe has spun a narrative then structured it in reverse, beginning with the horrific (in it’s uncensored depiction and worst of all it’s complete lack of style) act of vengeance moving and then progressing back along that day’s time line. Some critics might view this as a base artistic choice designed to give validity to the two gratuitous scenes of violence, and of course they are entitled to their opinion, as deluded as it might be. For me the scenes are not gratuitous in the slightest. In tandem with the narrative structure they serve to not just illuminate the audience, because we are all aware of the violence inherent in society. In fact they serve to burn away the nonchalance and the carefree attitude that is the usual response to such awareness. Instead of leaving us with the scenes of rape and the vengeance, we are assaulted by it from the beginning and then are left with those that precipitated. It is these scenes that both calm and provoke you further. Just when you think the storm has passed and we can be surprised by such a rich tribute to Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now with scenes of complete intimacy between the two leads. We can try and hide ourselves from the nightmare that has gone before and instead share the joy of their love, their teasing and tender caress. However with each touch and word, we have recollections of their mirrors in the underpass. We know this paradise has its snake, and because of that it is these scenes that are the more horrific because we can no longer share in their happiness. In fact the more we watch, the more we poison it and instead of the final scenes of birthing and nurturing something beautiful; of blue skies and summer days we have delivered something sick, depraved and unholy; wintry skies and sickening movements.
It is when we leave the cinema that possibly the greatest thing about the film is revealed. We realise its ability to have such a different effect on people. If you leave the cinema with a feeling of revulsion, or disgust, then good because on one level that is what the film is attempting to do. It has skinned you and then hopes you will reform without the blindness that once existed. You have witnessed the worst rape ever depicted on screen, yes, an excruciatingly difficult thing to watch, correct. But if you can’t see that this serves as the greatest advertisement for rape awareness then you are ignorant to the concerns of people in society and I pity you.
This is so much more than a film, and Bellucci should be admired for her bravery in accepting such a demanding role. In fact both she and Cassell have bared their souls to the world, taking on the names of characters yet playing themselves with such honesty that time and time again it is hard to see this as acting. Though it is Bellucci’s astonishing ordeal that will linger longest it is Cassell’s overall performance that grabbed my attention completely. I haven’t seen such a range, from unrestrained anger to real tenderness, since Brando in On the Waterfront. As for Noe’s directorial choices, his use of long takes and spiralling camera moves do necessitate a period of acclimatisation and also a passing sense of bewilderment as to their function. This does pass, I promise, and it rewards perseverance believe me. As Noe prolongs the takes, he prolongs our connection with Bellucci and Cassell’s reality, hammering home their pain; their compassion; their violence; their love. As each movement becomes more complex you realise this is time spiralling away behind them. This is their reality twisted by the horrific events that have come to pass, and as we reverse, we see the movements become more serene, more beautiful. They become perfect just as we know they can never be, and thus the tragedy Noe realises is just around the corner is realised. For this is a tragedy, a film about love soured by living in reality. As the film ends we see the idyllic image one strives for, and yet we cannot simply expect this by living life. We have reality to contend with, and it is in the scenes that have caused critics to whine and censors to muse, and worst of all audiences to leave that we see something really special. It is in these scenes of rape and violence that we see reality as it really is; an enemy. So all Noe is saying, is when you leave the club, step out of your door or walk rather than drive do not be surprised at how completely alien reality can become in an instant, just as a lifetime is lost.
Love, love, love this film. It's tough but if you get through it, it's just one of those times you can reach for the skies and love film again.
If you use this, or can work out the code with which I wrote it then just call me DannyOcean and shout.
I’m still dying to see how Lions Gate handles the release of this difficult and demanding film to an America that seems increasingly to need their entertainment infantalized and safetyproofed. I wish them luck with it.
"Moriarty" out.
