Enter The Void (2009)

[antmumford]

I have a feeling I'll like this one. As so many people hated Anti-Christ and I thought it was a work of genius, it may well be the same situation we have here too for sure.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

I enjoyed Noe's I Stand Alone immensely, so yeah, I'm very much looking forward to this too.

Plus, good news on the uncut status of the release in the UK.

[nekromantik]

It looks similar to Irreversible visually.
I liked what he did with that so looks good and is different.

[Calum]

Originally Posted by antmumford

I have a feeling I'll like this one. As so many people hated Anti-Christ and I thought it was a work of genius, it may well be the same situation we have here too for sure.

I thought AntiChrist was the best film of 2009 and I really admired Irreversible. I still thought Enter the Void was among the worst things my eyes had to endure last year. If it wasn't for the fact I was covering the thing at a press screening as a journalist I'd have bailed. It's fecking awful, fresher-year level, Freudian sh1te.

[Delirium]

I saw this at last years London Film Festival, with Gaspar Noé in attendance, and it was one of my films of the year.

Apparently he wanted to make a film that was the closest to a drug trip as he could, and I'd say he's succeeded. It's quite a 'trip', and a visually stunning piece; the cinematography from Benoît Debie (Irreversible, Calvaire, Innocence, Vinyan) is out of this world, and there's some incredible imagery and camerawork.

I've been itching to see it again, so will be making a second trip to the cinema as it deserves a big a screen as possible. Easily as good as Irreversible IMO, and slightly easier to palate, although it still contains some strong content.

I shook Noé's hand afterwards. He was a pleasant and nervous looking fella - probably wondering what kind of reaction people would have.

He needn't have worried, it's a magnificent film.

[nekromantik]

Heads up
This is out next Friday!!
24th September in selected cinemas, doubt you will find it in any of the big cinemas but indie ones should show it.

Hopefully I will go see this even if I have 2 go alone ha ha

[nekromantik]

Saw it last night!!
It was quite a experience, it was a tad long even in its missing 7th reel version but I enjoyed it. It was not a start to finish story type movie as it goes back and forth in time but it was VERY different and very Noe. Use of colours and music was impressive and it shows what a good director Noe is. Even the bad reviews comment on the good direction skill shown.

The UK dvd release is meant to feature the "full" version but there are 3 version out there now, the UK Theatrical version, international theatrical and directors cut.
The French DVD/Blu out December will feature International theatrical version as well as the directors cut which is nerly 3 hours long. The UK cut was meant to be shown at 25fps instead of 24 so if that makes the UK theatrical cut 2 hours 17 mins at 25fps while the theatrical cut at 25fps would be 2 hours 34. Info is on BBFC site.

[medwaygarage]

Just got back from London,where there was special screenings of 'Enter The Void', on Friday 24th Sept at the Curzon Soho,London they showed the UK theatrical cut [missing reel seven] with a Q&A from Gaspar Noe, [Cyril Roy was in attendence as well, but not during the Q&A, more on that later].'Enter The Void' is an absolutely mind blowing film, and It's true to say 'you haven't seen anything like this', a truly psychedelic head trip of a film,stunning !

I felt the running time was fine for this version, though I do wonder about the 25 frames per second speed up, there are a lot of strobe effects in the movie,not visable to the extent they would've been at 24fps, I wonder If the distributor imposed this decision ? [could it possibly be dangerous if projected at 24fps ? ,I don't think the Japanese version screened earlier in the year was speed up. I should have asked Gaspar when I got the chance,but there you go].I did have a ticket for the screening afterwards, which was of the longer cut, with reel seven included, but I bumped into Cyril Roy at the bar so I went to the screening of the longer cut the following day.I've previously met Cyril [who plays Alex in the movie] during my time in Tokyo, he previously lived in London and used to play with several London based garage bands [The Sires/The Bristols].I met Gaspar later, I came prepared and got some posters signed, I had previously met him briefly at the NFT's first showing of 'Irreversible', and he was as friendly as ever, although a bit busy,with various interviews and promotional duties etc, I got Cyril to add his name to the poster as well [which he signed in Japanese], I think he had a great time and was loving all the attention.He's very good in the film too, apparently he went with a friend to the casting in Tokyo, wasn't even going for the audition but ended up with a part !

The visuals in 'Enter The Void' are amazing, Noe is one of the few visionaries working in film today, I normally hate C.G.I, but that, along with other effect shots are utillized in such an imaginitive way that you can't help but be impressed,I hope the B.U.F team who worked on them, get due recognition.

I managed to see the longer cut the following day [only two screenings at the Curzon Soho] and I have to say even though there's some good stuff in the extra 17 mins, the film flows better without them.

***SPOILERS AHEAD*******













Among the extra scenes in reel seven are the following;

More psychedelic visuals

A very trippy over head shot of Linda [the sister] [Paz de la Huerta],in a room covered in toy railway track.Linda mentions that she wishes she had got together with Alex instead of the stripclub owner Mario.

A scene showing Alex [Cyril Roy] looking for food among rubbish bags while on the run.

Alex [Cyril Roy] phoning his Japanese flatmate to arrange a meeting to get some clothes to keep warm while sleeping rough,and some money, while on the run from the Police.

A lesbian heavy petting scene between Linda and Alex's Japanese flatmates girlfriend/sister [?].It's revealed that Alex's flatmate knows how to contact Alex, who's on the run.A close up of 'The Love Hotel' scale model is also shown, Alex's Japanese flatmate has the light turned off and is reflecting two torches against the outside of the model.

A scene where you see [Oscar] waking up at the morgue and he thinks he's alive but he's not, a cab ride where Linda says 'that thing is not my brother',then a truck ploughs into the cab.

A sequence where Oscar see's Alex living rough,warming himself in front of a fire ,Alex is writing 'You need to wake up' with the charcoaled remains of a piece of wood.Alex;'Oscar you need to wake up,remember......you burned',the camera dives into the fire and we see what appears to be a body burning.

A sequence with Linda looking into the urn with her brothers ashes,'that's not my brother',and then the camera dives into the plughole, where Linda is tipping his ashes

When Gaspar signed my poster he added an arrow pointing to 'Oscar's' character saying 'This kid needs to wake up', the film could have muliple interpretations, the Buddist interpretation is a mcguffin [much like Leone's interpetation of 'Once Upon A Time In America',being an Opium dream].But of course you have to come to your own conclusions on that.Here's a quote;

NOE: If you've only seen the film once, you may not have connected the face of the woman who gives birth at the end. It's not Oscar's sister, it's Oscar's mother. And also, the whole movie is a dream of someone who read The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and heard about it before being [shot by a gun]. It's not the story of someone who dies, flies and is reincarnated, it's the story of someone who is stoned when he gets shot and who has an intonation of his own dream...At the end of the movie, you don't know if he died or will wake up at the hospital. It's like Videodrome, where you just don't know. And I am not Buddhist at all. I want to make clear that I do not promote any belief of a lord or a reward after this lifetime. If you want to be rewarded, reward yourself during this lifetime. No one is going to help you out.
*Unfortunately I can't post the link, not enough posts,so have a look at dvdmaniacs forum it's included on there*

'Oscar's' mother,is also seen subliminally during the 'Love Hotel scene', when Alex is making love to Linda [Oscar's sister].The Love Hotel itself being a memory of the scale model shown to Oscar on a visit to Alex's flat.

[thundercrack]

Originally Posted by nekromantik

The UK cut was meant to be shown at 25fps instead of 24 so if that makes the UK theatrical cut 2 hours 17 mins at 25fps while the theatrical cut at 25fps would be 2 hours 34. Info is on BBFC site.

On the 5 Live film review with Mark Kermode, someone sent in a message saying that reel 7 is missing so that might explain the running times of the UK version even though both the shorter UK Cinema version and Uncut versions were passed UNCUT.

[medwaygarage]

Originally Posted by thundercrack

On the 5 Live film review with Mark Kermode, someone sent in a message saying that reel 7 is missing so that might explain the running times of the UK version even though both the shorter UK Cinema version and Uncut versions were passed UNCUT.

Just to clarify,I saw two different versions on Friday [24th] and Saturday [25th Sept] at the Curzon Soho, as far as I know the there has only been 2 screenings of the long version in the UK, both at the Curzon Soho last weekend, but there could possibly be more.I've got a contact at Trinity the company who are distrubuting 'Enter The Void' in the UK, so I will ask about that and the 25fps speed up, which could be for a number of reasons [the distribution company being nervous about members of the audience having seizures,running time being much longer at 24fps,or Noe may have changed his mind and prefered the 25fps version].

Here's what the BBFC say on their website;

ENTER THE VOID was originally classified '18' uncut for cinema release on 02/08/2010. The film consisted of nine reels of 35mm film with a total running time of 2 hours 40 minutes 49 seconds (projected at 24 frames per second). Subsequent to classification, the company informed us that they now intended to distribute the film without reel seven. Accordingly a shortened version of the film, omitting this reel, was classified '18' uncut on 12/08/2010 with a running time of 2 hours 22 minutes 50 seconds (projected at 24 frames per second). Other than the deletion of reel seven, the latest version of the film is identical to the previous version.The film's director has also stated that ENTER THE VOID should be projected at the speed of 25 frames per second, rather than the more normal 24 frames per second. If the film is projected at this speed, the shortened version will have a running time of 2 hours 17 minutes 7 seconds. The original version, including the seventh reel, would have a running time of 2 hours 34 minutes 23 seconds.

Now I know Gaspar has recut the film several times since it's Canne premiere,but I wonder how true the statement about him wanting the film projected at 25fps is ? Unfortunatly I missed his introduction to the long version on Friday [24th Sept],so he may well of answered this question before the screening [didn't anyone on hear it].One more thing that makes me a bit suspicious about this, on YouTube there is footage from the German premiere [introduction is in German,reverts to English afterwards], Gaspar states that his prefered version is the long version [as did Cyril when I was talking to him].The forum is preventing me from posting the link but if you search YouTube for the following you should find it;

F.LM-VidCast: Q&A mit Gaspar Noe zu "Enter the Void"