Don’t people always feel better just before the end?

Holy Motors; wow. What an experience.

Honestly, Where do I even start?

Well for starters, this week’s screening for Introduction to Cinema studies was a 2012 Franco-German fantasy film Written and Directed by Leos Carax. The confusing, and in some manners “Art-house” film, is an adventure to say the least. With Denis Lavant as the bizarre and eccentric protagonist, and some odd (*musical?) encounters with Kylie Minogue…who speaks french: Holy Motors is a film which both astounded and visually violated me at the same time.

The film opening with a shot of “the audience”, this gave me high hopes. I’m not sure why, but revealing to a cinema full of people an image which reflected themselves, seemed not only clever, but thought provoking. I remember sitting in the dark theatre and looking forward at a mirror image of myself, presented to me. Cut between the shots of the dark theatre was an old piece of film reel of a man running back and fourth on the screen. The way the shot jumped between the two cuts was allowed me to feel a level of anticipation for what was to come next.

Prior to the actual screening of the film, we were told we wouldn’t really understand the plot of the story, and me, being the person I am, accepted the challenge. Boy did I fail.

I have no real memory of the film’s entire storyline, what I do have is tiny snippets of each sequence the film allowed me to endure. I can only call what I experienced a mixture of shock value and art (really really contrived art, almost strained) and I honestly can say that I did not enjoy it.

Obviously this film was produced for a niche audience, and was aiming to target some sort of issue; whether it be Hollywood or actors or the death of cinema. But I wasn’t able to focus on that, and any single time I tried to extract a certain meaning out of a scene my mind would be interrupted by finger biting or sex.

Aside from what I did not like (the majority), I thought it would be fair to mention the aesthetics of this film were incredible, if you take away the confusing dialogue and acting, and simply keep a selection of shots with no context they would be beautiful (beautiful in a disconcerting fashion). The colour pallet and shot design (mis en scen and camera angles) struck me from start to finish, I recall the man with the red hair and the green suit with one blind eye in the backdrop of a graveyard, the ostentatiously grotesque movements and actions he brought to the screen were intense and revolting, though for some odd reason the colours still worked for me.

I love art and appreciate all forms of it, and though I did not like Holy Motors there was a certain high level of creative thought put into this film which I cannot help but respect.

There’s not much else I can say, other than I’m extremly interested in hearing from my peers about how they felt about the movie themselves.

-Amber