Enter the Void is one of the most lurid, neon-soaked, oversexed movies ever made- definitely the kind of movie your parents would warn you to stay away from- but through stunning visuals and creative camerawork it becomes a film that is simply unforgettable. Enter the Void follows Oscar (Nathaniel Brown), a heavy drug user, who has been reading The Tibetan Book of the Dead on the recommendation of his pal Alex (Cyril Roy). After he is set up by his customer Victor (Olly Alexander), leading him to be shot and killed by cops, Oscar looks down on the world he is no longer a part of, observing his friends (the guilt-ridden Victor), family (his distraught sister Linda, a prostitute), and even himself (looking on as the police perform his autopsy). The whole film is a dizzying look at Tokyo's underbelly and the lives of others, all seen through a drug-infused lens.
The filmmaking that has gone into creating the out-of-body experience in Enter the Void is certainly creative, over half of the film is in overhead shots, the camera floating above Tokyo, but before that all transpires, the first 20 minutes of the film is shot entirely though POV shooting, even including eye blinks. It's a little nausea-inspiring, but once you settle into Noe's vision (at least, as much as you can settle in to a movie like this), the camerawork becomes the least of your concerns. My one gripe with this movie is the audacious running time of two and a half hours, maybe a full half hour longer than it should be. There are parts that seem endless because there isn't enough plot to go on, and there are parts that seem endless because they are so uncomfortable to watch. Nevertheless, one has to laud Enter the Void for it's bravery and for what it has done for modern cinema, transforming moving pictures into a wholly sensory roller coaster.
The filmmaking that has gone into creating the out-of-body experience in Enter the Void is certainly creative, over half of the film is in overhead shots, the camera floating above Tokyo, but before that all transpires, the first 20 minutes of the film is shot entirely though POV shooting, even including eye blinks. It's a little nausea-inspiring, but once you settle into Noe's vision (at least, as much as you can settle in to a movie like this), the camerawork becomes the least of your concerns. My one gripe with this movie is the audacious running time of two and a half hours, maybe a full half hour longer than it should be. There are parts that seem endless because there isn't enough plot to go on, and there are parts that seem endless because they are so uncomfortable to watch. Nevertheless, one has to laud Enter the Void for it's bravery and for what it has done for modern cinema, transforming moving pictures into a wholly sensory roller coaster.