Holy Motors

johnny_ultimate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkOHf6ngiKo

I've been looking forward to this for a while, so glad to hear its getting a release at the end of September. The dark horse of Cannes this year was up against a lot of higher profile competition (not least the unstoppable Mr. Haneke), but it seemed to get an enthusiastic cult following behind it over the course of the festival.

The film is from Leos Carax, who was quite active in the 80s and 90s but has been very quiet since. Some of you might have seen his segment in Tokyo! - this appears to be some sort of vague follow up to that, again featuring Denis Lavant as the wild eyed red-haired protagonist. He's apparently the star of the show, and his performance has attracted particular praise. There's also minor roles from the likes of Eva Mendes and Kylie Minogue.

Anyway, it's meant to be completely mental, but is said to reward those who commit to its eccentricities and challenges. Its out on the 28th (hopefully will get a preview at the IFI open day), and I for one am very much looking forward to it.

Sad Professor

Looking forward to this as well. Looks very Lynchian.

johnny_ultimate

Heads up - the Lighthouse are having a preview screening of this on Tuesday evening at six followed by a livestream Q&A with Carax, Lavant and Kylie Minogue.

johnny_ultimate

This film is magnificent. It's one of those rare films that is truly an utterly unique, captivating experience. Carax throws everything at the screen, and the result is a beautifully eccentric film that tackles a huge range of themes and emotions, and the vast majority of them hit the mark perfectly. It's an all-encompassing celebration and critique of cinema (one of the very first shots turns the camera on the audience, and Carax never allows us to forget the story's inherent artificiality), and one of those 'everything' films that successfully attempts to reflect large amounts of human emotion and experience within one feature. It's quite unlike anything else, but the concepts and ambition reminded me of works like Synecdoche New York, Persona or the films of Guy Maddin. Denis Lavant is fantastic, undergoing vast physical and emotional changes over almost a dozen roles he plays in the film.

It's an episodic film, but feels wholly coherent. Like any film with such an approach, there are segments that individual audience members won't like, and a handful of sequences probably aren't quite as confidently delivered as others (not totally sold on the

talking cars

...). But as it flirts with all manner of genres and styles, it produces some of this year's most arresting, hypnotic scenes: the joyous instrumental 'interval', a haunting, balletic visit to a motion capture studio, a surprise cameo from

some chimps

, the welcome return of Merde!... Some are intensely dramatic, others blackly comic (this is the funniest film I've seen this year), and yet all work within the grand framework of the film.

I don't know if I'd recommend this to everyone without question, but give yourself over to Holy Motors and it's perhaps this years bravest, most ambitious film. It's also one of its best. I had high hopes going in, and I was not disappointed.

On a side note, the satellite stuff from London was excruciating. Half an hour of pointless red carpet stuff as Minogue chatted to the press before the film started with the signal constantly breaking up. The film was followed by an awkward Q&A from Peter Bradshaw (don't know how we were expected to tweet questions in the signalless Lighthouse...). Carax was clearly uncomfortable in such a setting, but when you make as elegant and thought provoking as this his struggle to articulate answers to inane questions was entirely forgivable. And the birthday girl who more or less declared her undying love for Minogue? Cringe.

Footoo

This really is an incredible film. I'm finding it hard to express why because it's a difficult film to understand. On one had it's a very straightforward narrative but what's difficult to understand is what exactly Carax is trying to convey. Is it a bizarre journey through the history of cinema or a commentary on the different roles and personalities we take on during our day / life, or both, or neither?

In the end I don't think it matters because it is suck a beautiful visual experience all centered around one of the best lead performances I've seen in years by Denis Lavant that, even if you have no idea what it's about, you will be absorbed throughout.

By the way , this film is streaming on Curzon on demand. It's £10 (stg) which is ridiculously expensive, but you can view it as many times for a week so it's worth it if a few friends all want to watch it and it's not showing in a cinema near your (very likely)

johnny_ultimate

It's one of those films I wish more people would go to see, because it's worthy of attention and discussion. Alas, doesn't seem to have even cracked the top 20 Irish charts in its opening weekend, which is as depressing as it is inevitable.

It truly is a wonderful piece of cinema, and I choose that word specifically. What impresses more than the individual sequences is how on the whole it has such a command and love for the medium: from CGI to silent cinema to musicals to animation. That it opens in a cinema couldn't be more apt, as it really is the place to watch it if at all possible. It's easy to see people hating it, and I think given the tone and strangeness of the piece its sort of understandable. But it's one of those films that's totally worth the risk and effort, because even if you hate it, it's still worthy of much thought and discussion about why you hated it. It offers so much to digest, experience and interpret - although I agree that attempting to come up with definitive conclusions on anything in the film is probably an exercise in futility - and that's what makes it so special. Well, that and Lavant of course

Sad Professor

I went to see it last night. Wow... just wow!

It's not really Lynchian. Starts off that way but goes somewhere very different. A truly unique cinematic experience.

charlie_says

I just heard about this today. Another one for the watch list!

Looking forward to it, glad to see you guys enjoyed it.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qxG3LzYkfg

Have probably played this around thirty times since I saw the film

This will be a definite Blu-Ray purchase. I don't normally like watching scenes out of sequence, but there'll be a few in this I know I'll want to rewatch very regularly.

Scubrick

Hey guys, I noticed this was playing up in Dublin for a while but haven't been able to get up to see it, I live in Donegal. I was wondering if this will be getting released again or in any other cinemas across the country if you know? Or is there somewhere maybe I could pay to watch it online?

johnny_ultimate

Scubrick wrote: »

Hey guys, I noticed this was playing up in Dublin for a while but haven't been able to get up to see it, I live in Donegal. I was wondering if this will be getting released again or in any other cinemas across the country if you know? Or is there somewhere maybe I could pay to watch it online?

As mentioned above, it's streaming on Curzon on Demand: http://www.curzoncinemas.com/film_on_demand/. Tad steep at £10 (typical expensive Curzon!), but handy if you can't access a cinema.

Access Cinema may have screenings up around Donegal, but would probably take a few weeks / months.

Scubrick

Oh sorry about that, never even noticed. It is a bit steep but I think I might just watch it on there, thanks for that!

johnny_ultimate

Scubrick wrote: »

Oh sorry about that, never even noticed. It is a bit steep but I think I might just watch it on there, thanks for that!

No worries, enjoy Easily worth a tenner!

Footoo

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

As mentioned above, it's streaming on Curzon on Demand: http://www.curzoncinemas.com/film_on_demand/. Tad steep at £10 (typical expensive Curzon!), but handy if you can't access a cinema.

Access Cinema may have screenings up around Donegal, but would probably take a few weeks / months.

Just a further point on this. You have access to the film for 7 days, so while it is steep, you could easily split the cost with one or two others (if that was possible) and ye could watchi in your own time over the 7 days.

Either way as above, it's well worth it anyway. Amazing film

johnny_ultimate

Out on DVD, BluRay, iTunes etc etc now. No excuse anymore

I caught a quick glimpse of the DVD cover today, and bizarrely they seem to have done a last minute photoshop job on it to put Kylie Minogue front and centre. It's same as the theatrical poster, just with that one strange alteration. Her name is also emphasised above all others in any online marketing material I've seen (and I don't know why but I've been getting assaulted with ads for the film on facebook for a few weeks now). Is a ten minute appearance from Kylie Mingoue really that much of an incentive for people

*remembers crazy Kylie fan at Q&A*

Oh. Right.

Technocentral

Just watched "Holy Motors", what an absolutely beautiful film, I'm so glad people are still making gems like this, it's 10 times more inventive than 90% of the things that ever get released, as has been said many times, you can more or less put your own interpretation on what it's about, but for me I kept thinking about "Russian Ark" when I was watching it, though the protagonist in this is much more shall we say hands on! Long may surprising and refreshingly different films like this be made, I'm only raging that I didn't see it in the cinema though. 9.5/10.

noodler

Technocentral wrote: »

"Holy Motors" is on Netflix US, looking forward to watching this later.

I just finished watching Holy Motors.

I really don't know what to make of it.

We know he was acting for sure because of the appearance of the other guy in the Limo who mentioned the tiny cameras - it had been left unclear up until that point.

The only one of the 9 scenes that I truly ejoyed was the one where he was a very harsh father picking his daughter up from a party. I enjoyed the Eva Mendes scene but only because she is so gorgeous.

Why were the cars talking at the end?

What is the Holy Motors place?

What was Celine wearing a mask?

I didn't even recognise Kylie. Was Kylie's death real or was she just playing her own role? If she was just playing her own role then why did he react the way he did?

johnny_ultimate

Removed spoilers just for ease of discussion. I don't really think it's a spoilable film, but be warned if you haven't seen the film!

noodler wrote: »

We know he was acting for sure because of the appearance of the other guy in the Limo who mentioned the tiny cameras - it had been left unclear up until that point.

I don't think there's really a simple answer to this one - the whole point of the film is arguably the dynamic, impenetrable shifts between reality and fiction, and how Oscar is stuck in a constant limbo between the two, an uncertain identity. Perhaps most obviously realised in the 'murder' scene, where we're witness to this surreal hybrid identity. Cinema is something artificial, and a performance is too - in trying to play all these roles, our protagonist struggles to find his true self, however arguably meaningless such a search is.

Why were the cars talking at the end?

A final moment of total artificiality - the pretenses of reality are absolutely shattered, tying into what I said above. Like the green screen sequence, cinema is capable of the impossible, never more explicitly stated by Carax than in the final cartoonish sequences of the film.

What is the Holy Motors place?

Could be read as any number of things, really! A studio where the productions roll out day after day? Maybe even a cinema itself: an unreal world sealed off from the outside (tying directly in with the opening scene in a theatre). I think we're free to make up our own minds on that one.

What was Celine wearing a mask?

It's a reference to Edith Scob's breakthrough early role in the film Eyes Without a Face, where she wore a similar mask: the actress directly referencing her own cinematic legacy. Plus, is there any better symbol for the collapse of identity than a mask?

I didn't even recognise Kylie. Was Kylie's death real or was she just playing her own role? If she was just playing her own role then why did he react the way he did?

Again, the film makes no real, binary divisions between what is real and what isn't. When does the role end and the person begin? I think Carax is asking us to engage with the question rather than probe for impossible answers.

noodler

A little too disjointed for me.

Appreciate your remarks

ThirdMan

Technocentral wrote: »

Just watched "Holy Motors", what an absolutely beautiful film, I'm so glad people are still making gems like this, it's 10 times more inventive than 90% of the things that ever get released, as has been said many times, you can more or less put your own interpretation on what it's about, but for me I kept thinking about "Russian Ark" when I was watching it, though the protagonist in this is much more shall we say hands on! Long may surprising and refreshingly different films like this be made, I'm only raging that I didn't see it in the cinema though. 9.5/10.

I enjoyed it as well, but not as much as you. 9.4/10.