gridoon2018 For more than 90 minutes, I flirted with the idea of giving "Enter The Void" the first perfect 10 on this site that I would have ever given to a movie (I have rated some specific TV episodes "10"). Words simply cannot describe the experience: it is astonishing, immersive, transcendental - a "legal high". Gaspar Noe's floating camera is like a magic carpet carrying you along. But around the point where the flashbacks chronicling Oscar's past end, the film starts to get a little too indulgent, and I could see the ending coming a mile away. Despite all that, a trip like no other. *** out of 4.

misterbels I must write something, just 'must', I'm an almost 60 year old Belgian living in Vietnam, first 8 years in Saigon, and now finally and luckily out in the countryside again. Last year, I was in Tokyo for two weeks and loved it to bits, so I understand the attraction of Tokyo for young people. Enter The Void depicts Tokyo not only from a western eye but from an Asian eye too, I cannot explain why but it does. As an artist myself I understand the desolateness one may experience in any foreign culture, in this case, Asian.I assume that most of my colleague-workers as teachers, both in Tokyo or HCMC can relate to this movie well, not only because of the setting of ourselves in such an other culture but - and here I need to be careful - most expats in Asia have mostly 'a reason' to be in Asia. My reason to be here has to do with the death of my brother. And I have found a motive and reason to continue living here because of it.Alienation is part of my life, yet 'connection' too. Let's put it like this, one may be alienated from alienation, which is bad of course and yet again connect with life in another dimension, not always understanding why but yet doing so. A relief. Art is coming to terms with an alienation based in a memory that hasn't died. This movie does that greatly, and I don't think viewers may easily understand the producer of this movie, but this movie - as art usually does and should be doing - transports the viewer to its own familial trauma's and alienations. How we cope with them is the stuff for psychiatrist and yes, you name it, artists. This movie is a work of art. THANK YOU PRODUCER.

johndfox Enter the Void is a flawed, but deeply disturbing and powerful film that will almost certainly stay with you for a very long time. Through the use of superb camera-work, an unnerving ambient score and a powerhouse performance Paz De La Heurta, director Gaspar Noé sucks us into a very dark place. Of course, it is impossible to talk about the film without mentioning its fantastic first person opening sequence, chronicling the last half hour of protagonist Oscar's life. We see him take a strange hallucinogenic drug, before leaving his house and going to meet his friend, all the while being presented with a disjointed, and at times highly existential inner monologue. This scene is, for lack of a better word, astonishing, and more than sets the tone for the surreal nightmare to come. From then on, the camera, perhaps a representation of the protagonist's spirit, moves freely through space and time, never confined to one place, almost as though it were some kind of omniscient being. We are also presented with psychedelic, almost headache inducing strobe lights set against an oppressive red colour palette, which, perhaps in an inferior film, would be no more than a gimmick to masquerade artistic prowess. In this, however, the lighting serves to highlight the despair and misery the characters are living through, as we, like the protagonist watch in horror, unable to save them from their inevitably unpleasant fate. The performances are, in general, pretty good. Nathaniel Brown is convincing as Oscar, playing somebody who, while devoted to his sister's well-being, gives very little regard to the lives of others. The only performance that I would call bad comes from Cyril Roy, playing his friend, who, intentionally or otherwise, comes across as detached from the situation around him, and unable to speak without sounding slurred. The standout, however, comes from the aforementioned Paz De La Heurta, playing Oscar's damaged sister Linda, the emotional anchor of the film. She portrays someone who, though innocent at first, becomes increasingly aware, and disturbed, at the nightmarish situation she's in, and increasingly desperate for some sort of escape. All this is done with a raw emotional intensity that you simply would not see in a more mainstream film. This film is, of course, far from perfect. Its biggest flaw lies in its borderline excessive run-time, which could have been reduced drastically had Noé removed a few unnecessary scenes, or, alternatively, cut a few short. Around halfway through, we are shown a shortened version of the opening scene again, only without the first person perspective. This could have been shortened quite easily, by showing only the most crucial moments, before moving on. Towards the end, Noé starts recycling and re-purposing the same type of shot, finishing, quite disappointingly, with a visually stunning, though overlong sequence that detracts from the emotional climax of the film. Despite an overstretched run-time and occasional moments of weakness, Enter the Void is essential viewing for anyone interested in surreal, unsettling cinema. Obligatory rating: 8.5/10

jjanerney What can I say about this epic film, Gasper Noe's magnum opus. This is perhaps the most physically exhausting film I have ever seen. A film that you have to prepare yourself to watch, that leaves you feeling empty and drained by it's conclusion. This is typical Noe, just on the grandest, most ambitious scale yet. The intimacy(for lack of a better word) of irreversible or I stand alone is to a degree lost in the grandeur of this film. It is loosely based on the Tibetan book of the dead, as hinted to quite inelegantly near the start of the film. The plot is quite simple, after our protagonist/antagonist is killed we follow his soul through a pov camera and see flashbacks and mainly how his friends and relatives continue with their life after his death. This film is in essence a trip, and a character study. And the characters are fascinating, self destructive, manipulative wrecks that still demand my attention and empathy. As a trip though this film is exceptional. Filled with a typically Noe color scheme, aggressive neon lighting and a camera that goes everywhere along with some of the most disorientating visual intricacies, the film becomes a sensory overload. If there is one thing more important than anything else to Noe, it is excess. This film not only depicts excess but jumps head first into said excesses. A film that runs for almost 3 hours, were the camera flies around the city at breakneck speed and enters peoples bodies, a film that will indulge itself in the debaucherous acts of the characters and then revel in the consequences and dance on their proverbial graves. The metaphysics of the film are strange, with weird Freudian flights of fancy and a very nihilistic view of death, that doesn't deal with what happens after you die but how life on earth continues without ever missing a beat, not a piece of religious cinema or a film denouncing religion, just one that deals with the aftermath of death in an incredibly bleak and unblinking manner. Having said that though, I think the metaphysics are flawed, and the film gets bogged down by its ambition sometimes. However, I don't think that matters, this film is about a visceral experience for the viewer and in that respect it doesn't disappoint.Noe is a filmmaker with no filter, he has produced a film so ambitious and limitless it is almost a miracle it was made at all. So lets be grateful that such a ambitious, masterful piece of cinema has been created and that we can rest assured that auteurs like Noe continue to produce cinema that provoke reactions and thought from audiences willing to give them time.