I saw this in the Landmark's Main Art Theater in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak on Wednesday night, Nov. 10, 2010, late. It runs almost two and a half hours in the version I saw, and felt substantially longer, due to numerous shots that amount to "false endings," or have that feel. The camera work and cinematography are nothing short of brilliant, and -- assuming you can survive the harrowing emotional parts of the film, in order to experience these extraordinary technical elements (and here I would include not only the camera-work, but the acting, directing of the actors, and script) -- should be seen by all brave film students.
The camera drifts over a Tokyo that seems shrouded in constant night, ablaze with neon, reminiscent of Blade Runner in its depressing claustrophobia. All the main characters are indiscriminately abusing hallucinogens, stripping, or engaging in other dreary life choices. Through flashbacks, we understand that Oliver and his sister Linda have been orphaned as young children due to a car crash, and, in spite of a childhood pact to always stay together and look after each other, are sent by their overwhelmed grandparents to live in separate foster homes. Oliver eventually ends up in Japan, and soon generates enough drug profits to bring his sister over to be reunited with him.
She soon falls in with a Japanese topless nightclub owner, with whom she also then has a sexual relationship. Oliver is killed early on in the film in a raid on a high tech drug den/bar, shot by overzealous police, and from there his spirit soars through a timeless quilt of past and present. Long, long swooping takes (Noe's earlier film Irreversible used this technique in spots as well), interrupted by the camera constantly diving through various objects that become as portals -- this is a filmic tour de force, and if you can get past the barrage of violence, degradation, soulless couplings, depressive set pieces (among them, a graphic abortion, a vivid and gory car crash, a slow death in a dirty bathroom stall, et al.), something like a happy ending does eventually arise out of the murk -- although I doubt you'll think that you've left the theater anything like "happy" or "fulfilled" by your experience.
One to see more than once, if you can hack it.
The camera drifts over a Tokyo that seems shrouded in constant night, ablaze with neon, reminiscent of Blade Runner in its depressing claustrophobia. All the main characters are indiscriminately abusing hallucinogens, stripping, or engaging in other dreary life choices. Through flashbacks, we understand that Oliver and his sister Linda have been orphaned as young children due to a car crash, and, in spite of a childhood pact to always stay together and look after each other, are sent by their overwhelmed grandparents to live in separate foster homes. Oliver eventually ends up in Japan, and soon generates enough drug profits to bring his sister over to be reunited with him.
She soon falls in with a Japanese topless nightclub owner, with whom she also then has a sexual relationship. Oliver is killed early on in the film in a raid on a high tech drug den/bar, shot by overzealous police, and from there his spirit soars through a timeless quilt of past and present. Long, long swooping takes (Noe's earlier film Irreversible used this technique in spots as well), interrupted by the camera constantly diving through various objects that become as portals -- this is a filmic tour de force, and if you can get past the barrage of violence, degradation, soulless couplings, depressive set pieces (among them, a graphic abortion, a vivid and gory car crash, a slow death in a dirty bathroom stall, et al.), something like a happy ending does eventually arise out of the murk -- although I doubt you'll think that you've left the theater anything like "happy" or "fulfilled" by your experience.
One to see more than once, if you can hack it.