Reviews

People complaining this isn't a horror film must not understand the mockumentary genre. It's a lovely little film, rich with detail, not to mention the awesome Norwegian landscape. I understand that if one is Norwegian, there cues to culture and mythology throughout. But without getting any of that, really, I'm satisfied. Any film that ends with me smiling, I consider a good film. To my mind, the trolls are just right. A little scary, little funny. I gather if you are Norwegian, you are already familiar with the troll Hunter himself, Otto Jespersen. I had no clue he was Norway's most famous comedian, so the was no disbelief to suspend. He did an excellent job. The kids were fine. Basically I have no complaints at all and enjoyed the film very much ...

As any film moving the viewer from their comfort zone, irreversible draws considerable fire. If I have any complaint with the film's technique, on occasion it is a little too self-conscious. But for the movie itself, many of those disapproving must have no understanding of the street, or what it can produce; and for that matter, of people in general. Of course, it could be they desire no real understanding, and have no wish to be reminded all our little decisions in life are irreversible and consequential. You took a left turn instead of a right at the intersection, and there was that semi that smashed your skull. Had Alex left the party a minute off in either direction, she would never have had the encounter in the tunnel. I think what may disturb many folks about this film is the graphic detonation of one's presumption of control. It is Pieere after all, the most controlled of the characters (delineated by his sexual difficulty with Alex), who ultimately is the most out-of-control, and perhaps the scariest, person in the movie. Those reviewers off-handedly insulting the intelligence of people appreciating this film need to be informed words of that nature may lead to "Irreversible" consequences, uttered on the street. And so, possibly, illuminate their discomfort at being so reminded by Gaspar Noe ...

(For an excellent critique of Noe's films and the "Cinema of Attractions", go to: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/noe.html

This film -- is it a psycho killer flick, murder mystery, psychological mind f**k -- is tight as a drum. You may think you know what is happening; don't count on it. The performances are dead-on. Dario Grandinetti as Ramone and Goya Toledo as Laura are perfectly nuanced, and their transitions (and the film's) will alter your perception several times before it's done. Not to mention, Goya Toledo is serious eye candy. (A remark possibly out of place in a serious review (ha ha), but damn!) It would not be too far off to suggest this film would appeal to fans of Silence Of the Lambs (minus the Grand Guignol). A very intelligent thriller!

One thing this film is not, and displays no aspiration to be: a porn flick. Those movies are devoted to people getting off on sex. Not the case here. One thing Baise-moi clearly does accomplish though, is to impact everyone viewing it, including the many establishing a veneer of disinterest or disdain.

The leads may be standing in for populations. With an impulse relatively no more powerful than that motivating the two women, whole groups devolve into similarly murderous binges on national levels. People are uncomfortable contemplating the paper thin wedge separating humanity from casually enthusiastic slaughter. And because their sex games stem from the same self-interested, hardly conscious urge to gratification, the acts of violence and coitus portrayed interleave in a manner connecting them beyond juxtaposition. In that way the whole film may be seen as a pornographic meditation, considering pornography in its definition as exciting not sexual, but emotional energy.

I won't propose to explain the filmmaker's intentions, I don't know what they were. The movie certainly wasn't artful, but it has a power. It is a buddy movie, and I am attracted to the leads -- particularly the late Karen Lancaume's performance -- though like the movie, neither character was awfully deep. But any movie able to get itself kicked out of Australia must be worth watching: I thought so...