2013 Cannes Marathon: Enter the Void

(Played in Competition for the Palme d’Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival)

Written and directed by Gaspar Noe, Enter the Void is the story about an American drug dealer who is killed in Japan as he spends his afterlife watching his sister live her life. The film is an exploration into the world of death but also life itself where a dead man deals with his past as well as his sister’s future. Starring Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, and Cyril Roy. Enter the Void is a hallucinatory yet mind-bending trip of a film from Gaspar Noe.

The film is essentially a story of life and death in which an American drug dealer who lives in Tokyo with his sister as he gets killed during a deal gone wrong. The event would lead to all sorts of things as the man would spend part of his afterlife in an out-of-body experience where he not only watches his sister grieve but also look back on his entire life that is full of drama and tragedy which plays into the fragile bond he has with his sister. It’s a film that may have a simple story with little plot despite utilizing a three-act structure. Yet, it’s a story that is quite intriguing in not just the idea of death but also grief as the sister Linda (Paz de la Huerta) deals with this loss as she had already been through enough in her life where she and her brother Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) made this pact to be together to the end.

Instead, Oscar’s death would send Linda into a tailspin where Oscar would watch his life play out in the film’s second act as it would lead to some very telling moments in its third act. Oscar’s out-of-body experience relates to his interest in the Buddhist book The Tibetan Book of the Dead where what happens him after death has him lurking around his surroundings where he looks for something to inhabit as if he believes in reincarnation.

The direction of Gaspar Noe is very hypnotic in not just the way he presents Tokyo but also everything else where he does play into this style where it is shot in continuous take with the exception of the second act where Oscar looks back on his entire life. With all of these stylish shots that is told from Oscar’s point-of-view, the camera is always showing things as if he’s looking at something including what happens to him after death. There, the camera is often flying over the city of Tokyo where it looks down on what is happening and how the world is moving on without him. While there are these fast blinks that does happen in the film’s first and second act which does often happen continuously, it becomes much more continuous in its third act where Oscar is flying over the city looking above.

The city of Tokyo itself is a character but it’s presented in this very lavish and colorful world as if it is presented with this air of psychedelia and surrealism where the colors are much more heightened. Notably as Noe would include some insert shots of Tokyo being shot from above as well as some very intense yet entrancing visual effects sequences that plays into Oscar’s drug-induced state or coming into the afterlife. These sequences are definitely help to tell the story as well as the idea of life and death. Especially in the latter where time doesn’t exist where Oscar watches things from afar including all of these moments that includes some sexually-explicit content that is stylized as well as moments that play into the emotional turmoil that Linda is going through. Overall, Noe creates a very evocative yet sensational film about life and death.

Cinematographer Benoit Debie does brilliant work with the film‘s very colorful and extravagant cinematography with its use of colorful lights to heighten the world of Tokyo as well as creating moods that are surrealistic but also stylized. Editors Gaspar Noe, Marc Boucrot, and Jerome Pesnel do amazing work with the editing by creating a sense of texture through the continuous approach of the editing while using some unconventional jump-cuts for the film‘s second act montage. Production designers Jean-Andre Carriere and Kikuo Ohta do fantastic work with the set pieces from the apartments, strip clubs, and other places along with some of the models of Tokyo.

Costume designer Nicoletta Massone does wonderful work with the costumes as it‘s mostly casual with the exception of the clothes that Linda wears. Visual effects supervisor Geoffrey Niquet and visual effects designer Pierre Buffin do phenomenal work with the visual effects that play into that sense of surrealism from the hallucinogenic images to some of the scenes of Tokyo. Sound designer Ken Yasumoto does superb work with the sound to create that sense of tense atmosphere in the clubs where layers of sounds clash as well as scenes set in Tokyo. The film’s music by Thomas Bangalter is great for its soundtrack that is filled with a mixture of high-octane dance music with some ambient pieces as it is presented in a sound collage that features acts like Coil, Throbbing Gristle, LFO, and Johann Sebastian Bach.

The casting by Lisa Mae Fincannon, Des Hamilton, Barbara Pfister, and Kathryn Taylor is excellent as it features some notable small roles from Emily Alyn Lind and Jesse Kuhn as the adolescent versions of Linda and Oscar, Janice Beliveau-Sicotte as their mother, Masato Tanno as Linda’s boss Mario, Ed Spear as Oscar’s supplier Bruno, and Olly Alexander as one of Oscar’s customers in Victor. Cyril Roy is terrific as Oscar’s artist friend Alex who is the one person in Oscar’s life that is any good as he also tries to help out Linda. Nathaniel Brown is amazing as Oscar who deals with his own death while wandering around Tokyo as a man seeking a soul to inhabit. Paz de la Huerta is wonderful as Linda as a woman ravaged by loss as she is trying to deal with her loneliness as well as the tragedy of her life.

Enter the Void is an outstanding film from Gaspar Noe. The film is truly unlike anything that is out there in terms of its technical brilliance as well as it’s very compelling approach on the idea of life and death. It’s also a film that plays like one big-ass mind-fuck that won’t stop while seducing the audience with its extremely sensational images. Though it’s not for everyone including those with epilepsy, it’s definitely a bold yet ambitious statement about the concept of life and death. In the end, Enter the Void is a magnificent film from Gaspar Noe.

Gaspar Noe Films: Carne - I Stand Alone - Irreversible - Love (2015 film) - The Auteurs #48: Gaspar Noe

© thevoid99 2013

The Limits of Control

Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, The Limits of Control is the story of an assassin sent to Spain to find his target. Along the way, he meets various people who help him guide to the place he needed to go to find his target. The film isn’t just an assassin film but an ode to those films among many others as it continues with Jarmusch’s fascination with European cinema. Starring longtime Jarmusch regular Issach de Bankole along with Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal, Hiam Abbass, John Hurt, Paz de la Huerta, Alex Descas, Youki Kudoh, Luis Tosar, Jean-Francois Stevenin, and Bill Murray. The Limits of Control is a stylish yet entrancing film from Jim Jarmusch.

The Lone Man (Issach de Bankole) is given specific instructions to go to Madrid where he’s to wait three days for a guide to give him more instructions. During his stay in Madrid, he meets a violinist (Luis Tosar), a nude woman (Paz de la Huerta), and a cowgirl (Tilda Swinton) who each give him instructions and such for his next journey. On a train trip to Seville, he meets a Japanese woman (Youki Kudoh) who gives him more incrustations as he waits for a man with a guitar (John Hurt) who tells him to go to Almeria. At Almeria, he meets a Mexican (Gael Garcia Bernal) and a driver (Hiam Abbass) who take him to his destination to meet his target (Bill Murray).

The film is about an assassin who goes to Spain where he’s to meet his target as he encounters various eccentrics throughout his journey. That’s pretty much it as Jim Jarmusch infuses various references to films, art, and music into some of the dialogue while a lot of it is just repeated. Many of which involves the wonders of the earth and such as each character talk about their own interests. Then there’s the Lone Man character who has a routine where he does Tai Chi, orders two cups of espressos, changes suits between locations, and exchange matchboxes with the people he meets. In the matchbox are pieces of paper with strange codes that he ends up eating.

The lack of a conventional script allows Jim Jarmusch to create a film that is very reminiscent to many of the cinematic style of the European filmmakers he love. Particularly the late Michelangelo Antonioni as there’s a few references to his film. Due to the lack of script, Jarmusch allows scenes to play out with little to no dialogue where the Lone Man often encounters various places and sometimes go to them every day in his journey. In the beginning of the film, he is given specific instructions of what he should do while the things he hears is something that he will eventually say when he meets his target.

Jarmusch’s direction also plays to an element of surrealism since the Lone Wolf is told to use his imagination for his journey. There, he encounters things where things could be real or not. It’s all about getting to the target where Jarmusch has scenes play out for long periods of time so it allows the Lone Man to soak in where he’s at. With a lot of still shots, wandering hand-held, and dolly shots to help complement the sense of style that Jarmusch goes for. It’s something that not everyone will get into as many will feel it’s extremely pretentious and will get people bored. It’s a film that is very minimalist in its presentation though it’s also something that people will feel is very tedious as Jarmusch creates a very engaging and stylish film that is more about the personal journey rather than the action.

Cinematographer Christopher Doyle does a magnificent job with the film‘s colorful cinematography as he adds a vibrant look to many of the locations set in Spain from the lush day and nighttime exteriors to the intimate settings for the interiors for all of the apartment scenes in the film. Editor Jay Rabinowitz, a longtime Jarmusch collaborator, does an excellent job with the editing as he creates a stylish array of cuts from jump-cuts, slow-motion, and half-frame speeds to help give the film some movement for a film that is elliptical in its pacing.

Production designer Eugenio Caballero does a fantastic job with the art direction in creating different set pieces and decorations for the apartment scenes along with village that the Lone Man stayed towards the end of the film. Costume designer Bina Daigeler does a wonderful job with the costumes in creating the different suits that the Lone Man wears along with the strange clothing that the people he meets wear including a transparent rain coat for the nude woman. Visual effects supervisor Eric J. Robertson does a great job with the visual effects in the film to play up the surrealism that the Lone Man encounters during his trip in Spain with psychedelic colors flashing around.

Sound editor Robert Hein does a superb job with the sound to capture the intimacy of the rooms the Lone Man is in along with the locations he encounters outside whether its quiet or chaotic. The film’s score is performed by the Japanese experimental rock band Boris. Boris’ score is largely ambient with elements of drone metal in a piece with the band Sunn O))). Other soundtrack pieces includes tracks from Bad Rabbit, Carmen Linares, Manuel el Sevillano, LCD Soundsystem, Earth with Bill Frisell, and the Black Angels as bits of flamenco is played during a scene in the film that breaks a bit of film’s esoteric tone.

The casting is definitely a highlight of the film as it features an array of wonderful small appearances from Alex Descas and Jean-Francois Stevenin as the men who tell the Lone Man his assignment, Luis Tosar as a man with a violin case, Hiam Abbass as a driver, Gael Garcia Bernal as the Mexican, John Hurt as the man with a guitar, Tilda Swinton as a blonde cowgirl, Youki Kudoh as the Japanese woman talking about molecules, Paz de la Huerta as the nude woman, and Bill Murray as the target. Many of these performances, as small as they are, all stand out in their unique way where they all provide some humor to the events that is happening.

Finally, there’s Issach de Bankole in a brilliant performance as the Lone Man. While it’s a very restrained role that has him just reacting and be still throughout while not saying very much. It’s a very compelling performance as de Bankole provides a sense of professionalism as a man who seems to be the best at what he does. Having two cups of espressos, no sex during the job, no cell phones, and always being focused is part of the film’s theme of control as it’s a truly sensational performance for the actor.

While it may not be at the top of many of the films Jim Jarmusch has done in the past. The Limits of Control is still an intriguing film from the always independent director who continually challenges the idea of minimalism in traditional narrative films. While fans of art films will enjoy it for its style as well as its ensemble cast, it’s a film that the average filmgoer will be annoyed and bored by because not much happens. Despite its arty approach, The Limits of Control is still a superb though challenging film from Jim Jarmusch.

Jim Jarmusch Films: Permanent Vacation - Stranger Than Paradise - Down By Law - Mystery Train - Night on Earth - Dead Man - Year of the Horse - Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - Coffee and Cigarettes - Broken Flowers - Only Lovers Left Alive - Paterson - (Gimmie Danger) - The Auteurs #27: Jim Jarmusch

© thevoid99 2011