Review #177: 'Enter the Void' (2009)

Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) is a small-time drug-taker and dealer living in the neon-lit Tokyo. The film begins with him tripping out on DMT as he relaxes in his apartment, only for him to be called to make a drop off for Victor (Olly Alexander). He makes the journey to a bar called The Void with his friend Alex (Cyril Roy), and they discuss the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which Alex has loaned Oscar. Upon arrival at the bar, it is clear that Victor has set him up, and the police chase Oscar in the toilet, only to shoot him dead. Oscar rises out of his body, reflects on his early life, his separation and eventual reuniting with his sister Linda (Paz De La Huerta), who is now with him in Japan, and how the people around him deal with his death.

Back in 2002, when I was approaching 18, I was dealt a sledgehammer blow to the face with Gaspar Noe's Irreversible. The film was horrifying and almost unwatchable, yet at the same time it was beautiful and brilliant. That film almost single-handedly started my interest and fascination with extreme cinema. It was disappointing that I had to wait seven years for his next feature, Enter The Void, and even more disappointing that it is a relatively poor film compared to the brilliance of Irreversible, a film I felt was one of the best film of that year.

Much like Irreversible, Enter The Void is outstanding to look at. While the former made the most of it's loose, kaleidoscopic camerawork, Void does much of the same, but takes that experience and amplifies it a thousand per cent. The opening half an hour uses a POV shot, where we not only see what Oscar sees, but hear what he thinks and experience his quite beautiful drug trip. After he is shot, the camera develops a mind of its own, flying across town to see what other friends are doing, zooming into gun shot wounds, into dreams, and even inside a vagina to see a seed being planted. It really is an experience like no other, and takes voyeurism to a whole other level.

Yet, for all its technical brilliance, Enter The Void left me cold. Noe is undoubtedly a self-styled provocateur, but where Irreversible had a point to make behind all the on-screen horror (Time Destoys Everything), this film seems to have nothing to say. Yes, it's about re-birth and the body's spirit leaving the body after death, but it's not enough to sustain the 160 minute running time. It's not a particularly pleasant experience watching Oscar's sister Linda (the brilliant Paz De La Huerta, who was the best thing in HBO's relatively disappointing Boardwalk Empire) strip for sleazebags, struggle to deal with the death of her brother, and have an abortion (which we have the pleasure of experiencing). By the 2 hour mark, the visual were not enough to keep my interest and I genuinely struggled during the last stretch.

Gaspar Noe will still remain a director whose work I will look forward to and eagerly track down, but I hope he puts his genuine talent into something else rather than to merely torturing the audience. His early film Seul Contre Tous (1998) was a Taxi Driver (1976) -esque portrayal of an angry old man tortured by the overwhelming anger he feels for the world. It was certainly interesting, but again it was an extremely unpleasant experience. I wish I could have seen Enter The Void at the cinema to feel the full force of that soundtrack and colour, but I think I still would have found it an empty film. Worth seeing for the visuals alone, and for the outstanding opening credits which are possibly the most dazzling I've ever seen.


Directed by: Gaspar Noé
Starring: Nathaniel Brown, Paz De La Huerta, Cyril Roy
Country: France/Germany/Italy/Canada

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie