Enter the Void

Gaspar Noe’s film is shot almost entirely in p.o.v., the protagonist a young guy doing and dealing drugs in a seedy, emphatically-neon Tokyo. Early voiceovers–where he tells himself things that no sapient creature would ever need to say, or even think, as the camera watches from his vantage, hands fumbling forward into frame to unlock a door, to grab his stash, to burn a pipe.

And yet–even early on, with some of this stilted narration, and the artifice of the p.o.v. ploy, there are cluttered rushes of image:

the apartment Continue reading Enter the Void

The Mechanic (2011)

This remake of the 1972 film of the same name is entirely predictable, including its choice of a different ending to the Bronson original. This version stars Jason Statham as Arthur Bishop, the long time assassin from whence the movie gets its name, Ben Foster as the apprentice, Steve, and Donald Sutherland as Steve’s father, who is targeted for assassination early in the movie. The action sequences are generally well choreographed, and there is more emphasis upon making the killings look like accidents. Statham plays this role as he does every role – taciturn, almost wincing at having to engage in conversation, not a trace of humor or twinkle – while Foster buries himself in the role; he always seems on the verge of losing control, a combination of resentfulness and exhilaration as he is initiated into the assassin’s trade. It is a perfectly acceptable action flick. Continue reading The Mechanic (2011)