Movie #88 Irreversible *2002*

A masterpiece?

I just finished watching Gaspar Noe film Irreversible.  I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like that in my life!  I really don't know what to say.  I am truly at a loss for words.  I am going to write a review of this, but there is a good chance that if I watch it again I might have a totally different take on the film.


The film opens with a camera technique like I have never seen.  The camera seems to be attached to a gyroscope of some kind.  It pans and wipes at 360 degrees without ever cutting.  It is fluid and dizzying.  The lighting is minimal and mostly natural.  Once the story begins it takes place outside a gay S&M club where there has been a murder.  The film then proceeds to play out in long, 10-20 minute sequences playing backwards to explain why the murder took place. 

The film revolves around a rape that occurs about half way through the film.  This rape sequence is about the first time in the film where the camera sits still.  It is about a 9 minute un-cut single shot of the most brutal anal rape sequence I have ever seen.  I don't know how to feel about this.  I kind of feel bad for having watched it.  This is not a film that I would ever recomend to anyone without a detailed description of what they would be getting into.

Irreversible is an assault on the senses.  It is terrorizing and beautiful.  As an example; The opening credits are printed upside down and backwards.  They are presented in a strobe light fashion.  They also scroll from the bottom of the screen up instead of the usual.  Then close to the end of the roll the credits start to slowly rotate counterclockwise.  This is not just a gimmick thought.  It really prepares you for the film and it's eccentric camera technique.   Then, the final shot is another fluid camera movement centering overhead on a water sprinkler.  The camera being to spin opposite of the sprinkler.  It moves faster and faster as the score grows louder and louder.  Then it fades into a whiteout that starts strobing.  Through the strobe we get glimpses of outer-space.  Then it cuts for the first time and the film is over.  Very reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The music was done by one half of the band Daft Punk.  It is a techno sound scape.  This would have definitely made a spot on my favorite score of 2002. 

The films stars Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel.  Bellucci is probably best known for her work in The Matrix, and Cassel would be know from the Oceans 11 franchise or from this years Black Swan.  They are unbelieveably good in this movie.  I felt so bad for Bellucci having to be subjected to filming that rape scene. 

I gave Irreversible a 5/5 stars on Netflix.  I think I will hold true to that ranking.  I have a rule that I will only watch one David Lynch film a year.  I find his work so disturbing that I will only put myself through 1 of his films a year.  Even though I own three or four on DVD.  I love them that much.  I wonder if Gaspar Noe will be another director like that.  The closest film I can comapre my feelings to is the Michael Haneke film(s) Funny Games. 

I will attach the trailer for Irreversible if YouTube has one.  I will also add a link to the credit sequence of his new film Enter the Void.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.

Movie #50 Valhalla Rising

"You need a name.  And you only have one eye".

That is the funniest moment in Valhalla Rising.  Matter of fact it is the one funny line in the movie.  Valhalla Rising is a 2010 film about an one eyed, mute slave.  His owners are Vikings that are being threatened by the Christian crusades.   One Eye escapes his slave masters and they all pay for the inhumane treatment they levied towards him. 

Valhalla Rising is a bloody, gory movie at times.  One Eye is an animal.  He shows no regard for human life.  He is a loner with the exception of a young boy that follows him.  The boy becomes his voice.  Not that One Eye has that much to say.  When propositioned with joining the crusades he agrees more or less.  The Christians ask where he is from and the boy says "He is from Hell".  The boy explains that hell is on the other side of the ocean.

While on their quest to make it to Jerusalem the crusaders, the boy and One Eye get lost in a mist and end up in North America where they clash with the natives and each other.

Valhalla Rising is directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.  One of my favorite working directors.  His films aren't always the best, but you know you can count on his to show you something you have never seen before.  Last year he introduced the world to Tom Hardy in the title role in the film Bronson.  The world should be thankful.  He is also the director of the Pusher Trilogy.  A uneven yet sometime brilliant series of films about the pros and cons of drug dealing.

I said Refn provides things you have never seen before.  Valhalla Rising does not disappoint when it come to originality.  But it is not without some clear influences.  The most obvious to me is Terrence Malick's The New World.  Others would be the fictional works of Werner Herzog.

One Eye is played by Mads Mikkelsen.  In my not so humble opinion he is my generations Klaus Kinski.  He is a mad man.  He is electric and unstable.  The comparison between Mads and Refn to Kinski and Herzog is not a difficult one to make.  Refn can really pull brilliant performances out of actors.  Hardy as Bronson was my #1 male performance of last year.

I was expecting a bloody violent picture through out.  It is painful to watch some of the scenes but not always because what is on screen.  The film has a Michael Heeke feel to it as well.  I was not however expecting an anti-Christian message or an anti-American message either.  And the film pulled no punches or was in no way trying to hide it's opinions.

As a whole Valhalla Rising is a challenging view.  There are long stretches of no dialogue.  There is a lot of shots of people in nature not really doing much.  There is madness in the air of this movie and Refn brings it front and center.  It can wear on a person after a bit though.  Refn is not for beginners.  I give Valhalla Rising a 4/5 stars.  Largely for Mads performance and the first 30 minutes of the film.  Check out the link below for the trailer and a new feature click the link to view the DVD at Amazon.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcFOSfaCNec