Along with Luc Besson and Jean-Jacques Beineix, Leos Carax was one of the prominent directors of the cinéma du look movement in the 80's. This cycle of French movies were typified by their focus on prioritising cinematic style over substance. So it is with some interest to see what Carax has come up with after a long absence from film making. Holy Motors shares the slick visual style of those earlier films but the result is overall a somewhat uneven movie it has to be said.
In it, a man called Monsieur Oscar is driven through Paris in a stretch limousine by his faithful chauffeur Céline. He takes the roles of a wide variety of characters and interacts with different people he encounters on his odyssey. In truth, there seems to be little obvious connections between the vignettes. So the resulting film is very surreal and often somewhat baffling. Some of the segments such as the one with the motion capture man are imaginative and compelling but others seem a bit lifeless. A recurring theme seems to be the idea of people playing roles although to what overall purpose I simply cannot say. The film also stars Kylie Minogue and Eva Mendes but they really aren't given enough to do to make much of an impression unfortunately. The main actor is some guy I haven't heard of called Denis Lavant and he does put in a fairly memorable performance including full frontal nudity with erect penis. Which I could have done without to be perfectly honest but it was different I can't argue with that.
Holy Motors is a film that could well be improved with subsequent viewings. It's very strange there's no doubt about that. But the parts are certainly greater than the whole and overall my feeling was that it could have been better.
In it, a man called Monsieur Oscar is driven through Paris in a stretch limousine by his faithful chauffeur Céline. He takes the roles of a wide variety of characters and interacts with different people he encounters on his odyssey. In truth, there seems to be little obvious connections between the vignettes. So the resulting film is very surreal and often somewhat baffling. Some of the segments such as the one with the motion capture man are imaginative and compelling but others seem a bit lifeless. A recurring theme seems to be the idea of people playing roles although to what overall purpose I simply cannot say. The film also stars Kylie Minogue and Eva Mendes but they really aren't given enough to do to make much of an impression unfortunately. The main actor is some guy I haven't heard of called Denis Lavant and he does put in a fairly memorable performance including full frontal nudity with erect penis. Which I could have done without to be perfectly honest but it was different I can't argue with that.
Holy Motors is a film that could well be improved with subsequent viewings. It's very strange there's no doubt about that. But the parts are certainly greater than the whole and overall my feeling was that it could have been better.