My review of Gaspar Noe's 'Enter The Void'

A review of Gaspar Noe's 2009 thriller 'Enter The Void'.

Some films are simply so far ahead of their time that they simply can't be completely appreciated on 1 viewing. I am going to say this without equivocating and with all humility: this film has replaced 2001: A Space Odyssey as my all time favorite trip-out film. That's right, I take back everything I said against this film in my former review. I guess after seeing Irreversible and being blown away by it, I was expecting something similarly shocking. This film is an entirely different animal than the previous films in that it's trippier and, in its own ugly perverse way, more beautiful than his previous films.

Basically, the film's an odyssey of reincarnation and the afterlife told through the eyes of the main character who's a drug dealer who happens to get caught at the wrong place (Tokyo) at the wrong time with dope, a psychedelic drug called DMT. This is one of those movies you have to see twice, once to be be introduced to it, and a second time after it's taken root in your subconscious. It is something about the whole experience of this film that sets it apart from other films, much the same as what separates 2001 from other sci fi films. There's a plot but it's buried in the experience, the beauty, the horror of the images in this film, unconscious, you can't see it but you know it's there, like air, all around you. This is definitely a love or hate film. Gaspar Noe outdid himself. This film will be talked about for years to come. Like I said, it's not about the story as much as it's about what you see, hear, and feel on the screen. Incredible film! Not for the squeamish and a great follow-up to his 2001 film Irreversible.