Enter the Void

I watched this over a month ago and still haven't digested whatever it was that I witnessed.  This movie plays out like an insane-incoherent-acid-trip fever dream.  From the mind-shattering opening title sequence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPxgi-PiNFE) you know you're in for a ride.

If you're at all familiar with Gaspar Noe's work (Irreversible) you'll at least be somewhat prepared for the onslaught of insanity.  It's going to be nearly impossible for me to describe this, since I genuinely am not sure what I even saw.

We follow Oscar, quite literally, as he goes through his life, and after-life, as a drug-using drug-dealing kid in Tokyo.   The first 15 or so minutes of the film, which we see through the eyes of Oscar (blinking and all), as he chats with his friend about the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and as he trips for 15 minutes on hallucinogens.  I've never seen, nor really have I wanted to see, a drug trip for that long, but it is genuinely interesting to see how it's portrayed.  Noe based the trip on his own past experiences, so I assume it's got some credibility.

Shortly thereafter, Oscar is involved in a drug deal gone bad, and is subsequently killed.  We then follow Oscar, I assume, as his soul (?) flies around the city seeing the affects its had on his sister and friends.  The zooms up from one character, through the ceiling, through the next floor, the next, and up through the roof before sweeping across the city.  The camera zips over alleyways, rooftops, busy streets, sometimes passing through apartments of never-to-be-seen-again people.  I have never seen anything like this before, and was fascinated by it.


The rest of the film plays out in that fashion, showing one person to the next living out their life after Oscar is killed.  This movie certainly is not for everyone, as there's no real coherent plot, not much meaningful dialogue, and the film just floats and swirls across the city from one story/person to the next, many of which are unconnected.

It truly is an intriguing and beautiful film with some of the most bizarre camera shots and sets I've ever seen, including a sex scene filmed from "within". I couldn't honestly tell you if I liked it, or if I didn't.  I've been digesting it for months and never came to a conclusion.  It's beauty and uniqueness make it worth the trip, if you can stomach it.

B.