#15 We just watched this on Netflix streaming. You should too!: Enter the Void

The Film: Enter the Void

You might have heard of this film as: A: The follow up to Gasper Noe’s film Irreversible or B: Quentin Taratino claiming it had one of the best credit sequences of all time. No matter what you think of this movie, as usual, QT was right. Those credits are so cool.

Moreover, a movie like this will likely never get made again. How it got made in the first place is a mystery I’ll never understand. The modest budget of ten to thirteen million is a fortune compared to the audience that would likely receive it in a positive light.

It is also rare  in the sense that I disliked it, but admired almost everything about it. I would never watch it fully through again because it is way too long, but feel it did a lot of cool stuff and was bold in its execution.

The film follows a transendant state a drug dealer in Japan experiences after he is shot by the police. He experiences life, death, and his past.  What else the movie intends to be is not exactly obvious. I enjoyed Noe’s own explanation which was that it was about the, “shimmering vacuity of the human experience”.

Why to watch it: Probably the most expensive experimental film ever made

The movie suffers from just being too long and having clunky delivered lines from its lead. I admired the stubbornness to which Noe refused to budge on the length and the patience he took to execute his vision, but never would I say I was entertained.  Being intriguing and fresh is, indeed, entertaining, however, the film is a kind of a one trick pony in that respect.

I went to an experimental film program and was inundated with films that my teachers insisted should not be looked at in a “psychedelic fashion”. In Void’s case, I totally agree. As with the end scene from 2001: Space Odyssey, it cannot be seen through a lens of psychedelic interpretation. It degrades the spiritual, and certainly, transcendence of the movie.

What that means is don’t just say its a “stoner flick”. It contains ideas and scenes way more enjoyable to talk and think about than actually experience. I encourage everyone to read the press kit here to gleam what you can from the interview with Gasper Noe. Remember, if Gasper is anything, he is fucking fearless.

Pay attention to this: The technical side

The technical talent in the movie is just as impressive as anything you’d see in a movie such as Lord of the Rings or Avatar. The director uses techniques experimented with in Snakes Eyes, but turns up the knob to 11. Never have crane shots been used in this way. Never. Maybe never again.

The cinematography is integral to the ideas and mood of Void. If poorly executed the movie would have never worked. You’ll see camera shots and imagery you will NEVER see again. That I’m sure of. I don’t really know what else to say except there is a shot of a the camera zooming into an aborted fetus. If that doesn’t get you watching, nothing will.

Get Netflix streaming and follow along. Have fun out there!

-Collin