Enter the Void

Shit, I think. I unwittingly downloaded a version with Swedish subtitles. Oh well. Then suddenly, FUCK. The opening credits are a strobing, neon, typographical pack-rape on my corneas. Along with a very brutal electro track by UK artist LFO, synced perfectly with the epilepsy-inducing electric circus-circus visuals. The credits are absolutely what credits should be. After they rip-cord through my skull I am cross legged and one-hundred-percent ready to ENTER THE FUCKING VOID.

And then the rest of the move happens. The choppy story follows Oscar, an amateur psychonaut on a journey through drugs, death, Tokyo and incest. He is shot by the trigger happy Tokyo 5-0, then we follow his consciousness floating around, mainly stalking his silly chums and watching his little sister get fucked by everything. The scenes leading up to Oscar's death set the tone of the film. They involve acid, DMT, a discussion on the Tibetan Book of Death, the 'tone' being pretentious-as-fuck, a tone familiar to anyone who's ever eavesdropped at a coffee shop in the North of Melbourne.

One the plus side, Gaspar Noe lives up to his filthy cheese-eating reputation. His camera buzzes around like a ghost, achieving  mind-fuckingly impossible angles, exploring his world of aggression and degeneracy in a unique way. I've seen donkey-snuff shows easier to stomach than a lot of the stuff Noe wants to show you. However, just because the angles are unique doesn't make them good. Kudos for the trying something new angle, but for-fucks-sake, why is it such an unfathomable concept for the majority of movie makers to grasp that it is completely possible to entertain and experiment at the same time??? Just ask a broke hooker.  

As you should have guessed, viewers expecting plot development, likeable characters and an ending will be sorely disappointed. It is misleading to label Enter the Void as anything but an experimental film, other labels are just slapped on to sell tickets, or downloads, or however you people access these things. Experimental film, as in experimenting and exploring just what in fact film is-all-the-fuck-about. This is good. Enter the Void could not be Enter the Void in any other format. For example most films could communicate their ‘essence’ in other, cheaper formats like novels, plays, cave drawings or twitter updates. But not Enter the Void. Bring it on. Additionally, according to Noe, his prior film Irreversible, was solely made to get the cash to make Enter the Void, describing it as a ‘bank robbery’. You gotta respect that.  

I recommend playing Enter the Void in the background of your next mushroom-tea party. The visuals will blow your tiny minds (read lots of neon lights), yet the lack of plot will stop you from getting overly involved, so you can keep those conversations about how the static on the TV is redefining your world view going healthily.  

On the plus side, you get to see sex from the point of view of a womb. God bless the technology modern film-makers have at their disposal.