HOLY MOTORS (french film)

ilx you need to see this film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQJrVEgOPRk

most fun i've had in the cinema this year except magic mike. a+ recommended.

I thought it was pretty hard work.

It helps to know the entire history of French cinema going in I hear

Leos Carax has been downplaying its metacinematic qualities, but yes, there are lots of references.

I thought it was pretty hard work.

I find this baffling!

what are the odds of this getting a release outside major cities? feels like it's getting a fair amount of attention.

stoked

too soon to know. Seems a little cineaste-oriented to be a broader-than-arthouse hit. xp

back in my video store days i remember dudes renting pola x a lot, probably b/c of the sexxxy VHS box art.

I spent all summer refreshing my Carax
Cannot wait

I really liked this, even though I didn't pick up any of the cinematic references. Although it did remind me of Synecdoche, New York and Quantum Leap.

I was thinking about Synecdoche, New York a lot too. It felt way more fun and joyful than that film though.

Meant to try to see this last week but didn't make it.

think im just not that huge on carax, tho did like this comparatively more than his others

well, that was quite something, and really... not satisfying, ultimately.

I do think the cemetery sequence is a keeper, and Lavant sure works hard.

Lim is right that Lavant at least deserves a Lon Chaney Award.

http://cinema-scope.com/spotlight/holy-motors-leos-carax-france/

Tonight at six!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vNvZLcrHOto/UFmLcR3GZDI/AAAAAAAABis/T79O8VeFZnc/s1600/holy_motors_uk_poster.jpg

"a batsqueak of dishevelment"

i enjoyed this a lot, but think it might be the least of his films.

also: sparks.

Slightly overrated. Sick accordion jam

yeah that was rad.

otoh, Neil Hannon doesnt really think that song is finished, does he?

this was really funny

was that last scene a rejected car ad?

I sort of read the film as 'THE IMPENDING DEATH OF CINEMA IN THE AGE OF YOUTUBE AND VIDEO GAMES'

"can't get you out of my head" is all-time; i'm glad it's legacy is further cemented by its appearances here

I liked how "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was a tease for everyone in the audience waiting for Kylie Minogue to show up.

yes, very well played

opens here next week

On the whole I love Carax but I hated this.

actually, did i hate it? i think i was completely bored by it which is worse.

How did Kylie do? Possibly my only reason for going...not fussed about it from the trailer I've seen.

she did okay under the circumstances.

This sucks too? Yep, 2012 is officially the worst movie year ever.

(Granted, I think I say that every year the Dardennes release a movie.)

fwiw i'm leaving the house right now to go see Rust and Bone. wish me luck!

Cheer up: Amour is on this week and if Mungiu's Beyond the Hills gets released by Xmas it should be a strong end.

Ws thinking of watching Rust and Bone so looking forward to any reactions jed.

I'm pretty sure it doesn't suck, but then I have no idea how it could be boring.

It usually takes two masterpieces to save a year for me this late in the game.

sorry 2012 has been so hard on you guys

NBD, I had the fight for marriage equality to keep me entertained.

talk about a bad year

I think I say that every year the Dardennes release a movie.

Happily no BdP gen release, ja?

To the extent that 2013 already has one masterpiece in the hole, da.

new tarr, bilge celan, haneke, dardennes, kurismaki = a v gd year

The Kid with a Bike, This Is Not a Film close enough to great btw

also I couldnt pick Kylie Minogue out of a police lineup

Yeah, was just going to add Panahi to that list (and subtract Dardennes)

Here, Morbs, this clip should catch you up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVf8fT8kn1s

otoh, Neil Hannon doesnt really think that song is finished, does he?

underrated neil hannon burns I have read

it turns out Carax cowrote it with him, so

my attention definitely wandered during the song

also I couldnt pick Kylie Minogue out of a police lineup

― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 15 November 2012 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That's just you.

My Faves are: This is not a Film, Guzman's terrifc cine-essay Nostlaga for the Light and, last but not least, The Dark Knight Rises.

Couldn't care less for Dardennes.

neil hannon always struck me as a 2nd-rate scott walker kind of dude (and the holy motors' song's meandering melody and open-ended structure is def reminiscent of SW), but not really that bad. but when you can have the real thing....

that scene (w/ the song) might have been my least favorite. it's hard to see how anyone could be entirely bored by this movie. but it's also hard to see how anyone could be unreservedly enthusiastic. it's definitely a mixed bag.

also I couldnt pick Kylie Minogue out of a police lineup
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 15 November 2012 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that would be an interesting police lineup, i think. "which of these pixied-sized gorgeous blondes attacked you, sir?"

pixie(d)

neil hannon always struck me as a 2nd-rate scott walker kind of dude

Divine Comedy covered Walker iirc

and walker soundtracked Pola X, of course.

i watched it online so you know how that goes. it's possible i could have been more enthusiastic about in in the cinema, or more inclined to absorb its waywardness.

Rust and Bone is really good. I have had problems with Audiard, mainly due to not really believing his set-ups but this film while, on paper, even less believable, worked for me mainly due to the understatedness of how it is played. Cotillard's performance is really quite something but all of the main performances are amazing in a very subdued way. And are all the more amazing for being so subdued. I still have probs with his use of music but that's a minor quibble.

Thanks, jed - might see it this w/end.

btw, it was a prosthetic right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U_NI8axBms

Is there any better actor than Denys? We had drinks afterward and were like "young Dustin Hoffman" but yeah I hope Carax is paying for his meals

Well, he is 50.

this was pretty underwhelming

easily the worst movie i have ever seen in my entire life

exaggerating of course (i saw resident evil and cube and so on) but i can't think of a bigger art-house let-down

actually, did i hate it? i think i was completely bored by it which is worse.

― jed_, Wednesday, November 14, 2012 5:12 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

qft

file under: cinematic one-liner

Loved it. Especially that it was so calm, considering how weird it was. The scene with the horrible parent, and Ms Vorgan. So off-putting.

btw, it was a prosthetic right

― 乒乓, Saturday, November 17, 2012 2:10 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, had to be.

why would it be?

if by "it" you mean Lavant's cock?

looked like it was hanging pretty low + pubes were all weird looking

You know how it goes with Frenchies -- cock au vin and shit

Cock so vain.

it's real. i've seen a lot in my time and i can tell by looking at the pixels pubes.

exaggerating of course (i saw resident evil and cube and so on) but i can't think of a bigger art-house let-down

It was unforgettably awful. I hated every little thing about it.

cock seemed fake to me

yeah maybe it seemed more real on the small screen? on the silver screen it looked 'off'

Oh re: the coq it looked like a big bushy merkin plus broom handle

Yeah the pubes were so luxuriant, I figured they were hiding the real stuff below.

well he uses other prosthetics in the film iirc

kind of loved this, at least laughed my bo. started to drag a bit towards the end and the final joke sucks, but the first 2/3 were a wonderful, pointless, dazzling rush. loved the nonsense detailing: godzilla theme in the first cemetery scene, eyes without a face mask, goblin cock, minogue, etc. so long as the tone was light, i was even able to invest in the the mini-films. wasn't much to it, but sometimes that's a blessing.

the cemetary part was def the best

yeah

also liked the relationship between levant and scob, but it didn't add up to much

the final joke sucks

the chimp family or the talking limos?

so this is a movie with talking limos and a chimp family

talking limos was fun I thought

wtf was up with the motion capture sequence?

very uncomfortable for me to watch for some reason

the incredible sadness of hiring someone w/ levant's acting talents to do motion capture for lecherous pablum?

a movie with talking limos, a chimp family, and lecherous pablum

xp well i get that, i just thought it was really gross

::spoilers::

xp

and yeah yeah that's the point

good "point", slow clap, etc

I thought it was prob the most hilarious scene in the movie tbh, esp when the penis actually pierced the she dragon

loved the motion capture chapter. on visuals alone, maybe my favorite stand-alone sequence of 2012.

the chimp family or the talking limos?

talking limos. did not work at all, though it would probably have bugged me less if it had occurred somewhere else in the film.

^ he says after agreeing that lucky charms in the cemetary was the best bit. okay, well, both.

is lucky's last name really "charms"? i've never thought about this...

what was up the opening (the room with the dog, the baby in the movie theater, sounds of a boat/ocean)?

apparently that was the director?

loved the talking limos, but I'm partial to It's A Wonderful Life references.

i can barely remember anything about this two weeks on.

i don't know, maybe i'm a humorless sap, i understood the humor in all of these scenes without actually finding any of it funny

the accordion jam was dope tho

i understood the humor in all of these scenes without actually finding any of it funny

^^^

^^^
Did not like this film at all.

Yeah, the sense of humour in this film is pretty naff. The only bit I remember finding amusing was during the motion capture bit where he's on the treadmill firing the machine gun, because it seemed like a decent parody of every behind-the-scenes documentary of modern action films you see. The film was alright; I preferred the second half to the first. I liked the music, especially the accordion jam, and the scene with him and his daughter in the car, and Michel Piccoli. It looked good, too. That's about it, though. I don't get what the big deal is.

The Motion Capture sequence was sorta reenactments of scenes from Carax' other movies, right? The running was Mauvais Sang, and the sex was Pola X.

SPOILERS

the bit i remember finding amusing was when he bit that chick's fingers off

i LOL'd

yeah, that was great. [air quote, *chomp*]

frederik b otm! i caught the mauvais sang bit with the colored stripes, but didn't think of pola x during the sexing. nice catch.

I liked the music, especially the accordion jam, and the scene with him and his daughter in the car

the father-daughter conversation was amazing, devastating, by far the most affecting moment in the film. wanted to jump in there and kick his nasty little french ass. and yeah, the accordion party was another high point. didn't like those awful, moany songs that were by some person other than kylie minogue. bleah.

i felt like things were switching too fast for me to get emotionally involved in any of it

agree for the most part (w the exception of the asshole & daughter scene), but it worked okay for me anyway. the longish suicide lovers & old dying man sequences toward the end kind of bugged me because they seemed to depend an emotional investment that hadn't been earned, and i wish there'd been some kind of payoff to the relationship between the levant and scob. something beyond vague intimations, i mean. other than that, i've got no substantial complaints.

i thought in the old man dying scene the monolith was going to appear

good point, missed opportunities. at least have a teacup break in slow motion or something.

i understood the humor in all of these scenes without actually finding any of it funny

― the late great, Sunday, December 2, 2012 3:25 PM (Yesterday)

french film

sure

the father-daughter conversation was amazing, devastating, by far the most affecting moment in the film. wanted to jump in there and kick his nasty little french ass.

― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Sunday, December 2, 2012 9:52 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

yeah i loved that scene too

the little girl in the window in that first shot after transitioning from carax in the theater is played by the daughter carax had with yekaterina golubeva, who died a few months before shooting started (possibly by her own hand) and who the movie was dedicated to (i'm guessing, i couldn't read the cyrillic under her photo at the end). i guess you could use that as a rosetta stone of sorts for interpreting the film

thought this was moving and funny and definitely want to see it again

i thought the cock looked real and that he was just wearing an orange merkin, but maybe fake is more likely. seems like it'd be tough to stay hard like that without touching it, even if he took viagra or something. it didn't even twitch...

i vote for fake re: cock

i guess it's a measure of how far my cinephile cred has slipped in the last few years that many of the film references went right over my head. Tho this is the only Carax I have ever seen.

however, i did enjoy most of it. i value any movie that can inspire a reaction of "whu?" a few times and this certainly did that.

I have a hard time seeing this is a "celebratory" movie as many seem to claim--if anything, while occasionally funny, it was pretty dark to me. but maybe i missed something.

im with u

It's a celebration of denis lavant, that's for damn sure. he plays this depressed, alcoholic, seemingly empty character, but what really shines through is his fucking full-burn brilliance. i'm tempted to think of it as a documentary about his performance(s), like an early john waters movie, maybe.

i'd watched it at home on my computer a couple weeks back and went to the theater to see it again last sunday. needs to be seen that way, imo. second time through, it seemed both more haunted and more exultant. death-obsessed, hollow, despairing, but also drunk on the possibilities of cinema and imagination. everyone talks up the meta-cinematic theme, but seven of m. oscar's nine assignations revolve around an interaction with a female partner, and the other two gain something in light of that structure. not sure where/how these two threads intersect, conceptually.

OK, this finishing as #1 in the Film Comment poll means I can officially join the backlash.

So happy for you!

really i'm about where ed's review had it

...in theatre I hated his film, but now I'm remembering that I've watched every other Carax movie at home with friends and wine so there's been the opportunity to discuss/allow one's attention to wander during the awful bits. But yeah Denis Levant rules

it was a bit dim so hard to tell, but the audience in the movie theater at the beginning was ASLEEP, right?

yeah. still baffled by the bit where a kid wanders down the aisle of the theater, as observed by carax, and is then followed ominously by a massive hound (who seems to have been associated with carax? maybe? like carax's gaze follows the kid, then cut to the emergence of the dog). what was that about?

the kid is Carax, the hound is Le Monde, the sleeping audience is you

see also: the final scene where the cars talk about how dull it was, "let's get out of here". bleah

worst ending of the year, except for Detachment

The leader-screen for the film at Bell Lightbox described Carax as an 'art-house bad boy'

morbs otm, except i haven't seen detachment

Only the slightest disappointment (mostly the same sort that accompanies almost any anthology film). But, really, as far as compiled lists go, if this isn't the movie of the year, what else is?

Will accept Dredd or "lists suck" as an alternate answer.

killer joe, end of watch the year's best, but this is up there

the ayer movie's that good? i haven't checked out anything related to him since harsh times years ago and figured it'd be more of the same

It is, but i love that stuff

and it's kinda sweet

the ayer movie's that good? i haven't checked out anything related to him since harsh times years ago and figured it'd be more of the same

― one bish two bish red bish blue bish (fadanuf4erybody), Sunday, December 16, 2012 11:50 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

is distinctly his but its a big step up from the likes of Harsh times

this was great btw. i can't imagine seeing something so ambitious & distinctive & writing it off as less than a noble failure, really. it had its longueurs but was so frequently engrossing & pleasingly digressive - the quiet presence of celine, the enigma of the girl visiting dying lavant, changing in the mirror.

re: refs, i didn't catch a lot?, most notable meta-ref was the widescreen les amants du pont neuf driveby

wtf was up with the motion capture sequence?

very uncomfortable for me to watch for some reason

― the late great, Sunday, 2 December 2012 16:08 (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this was terrific! criticising cinematography always sounds pissy but i thought this movie was kinda let down by how it looked, lazy cameras tracking really interesting material, & probably even w/this it was less striking than it could have been. but i thought it was so hypnotic, even making appropriate its little videogame coda. i saw this a couple of hours ago so can't get into how long-lasting it was but i thought it was just so fun to circle - while i was watching i was having to reject the kinds of trite readings you might apply to it - that it's about masks & roles we play, which i felt like his last assignment being his family could have played into. but all of its weird inconsistencies - particularly re: violence & harm - & it's occasional dialogues - a really terrific one about the disappearance of cameras - were really well put together & fun to think around.

really interested to hear about yekaterina golubeva. the shot of the girl receding from view before the punchline of the oceanic building was beguiling

oh wow & i hadn't even realised she was daiga in i can't sleep

I love this movie but I side w. Morbs on the ending

Started watching this on an international flight, where it was among the entertainment options (uncut!), but I had trouble focusing and didn't want to freak out any kids sneaking a peek. Catching up with it now, and the movie that springs to mind the most is "Songs from the Second Floor," though I thought that one was more surreal, inventive, funny and thought-provoking than this one, which is just sort of passive-aggressively provocative but in a really dark and doom-laden way. But I didn't think this one was bad, just difficult to get a bead on and pretty hard to love as much more than an exercise. I'd see it again, though.

Saw this last night and pretty much loved all of it. I have had days at work that definitely hinted at this kind of state of mind and it all felt a very true dream. By the time you get to the scene with kylie, I was fairly invested, wondering whether she was merely the ninth appointment, relieved when she wasn't, even though the outcome was just as dark.

The person I saw it with hated it, simultaneously trying her patience while being too obvious, and I could see her points but... ok whatever I'm a sap ymmv

i thought this was fucking terrible for the first hour and then I started to understand it and then i was like THIS IS AWESOME I WANT TO WATCH THE FIRST HOUR AGAIN

Definitely peaks in hilarious absurdity with the underground leprechaun marauding through the graveyard scene, set to the score to "Godzilla," which falls conveniently right in the middle of the movie. Actually, a bunch of the scenes are great in isolation, though taken as a whole it's really a challenge to get a hold of this movie. For me, at least. It's highs and lows are all facets of some tantalizingly unseeable whole.

I really enjoyed this, except for the talking cars.

Very much reminded me of the experience of reading "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" -- the sense of investment in one story after another being cut off by these bursts of self-consciousness.

Denis Lavant is great.

ironically i think i may have liked this much better as a series of HD youtube shorts

ha

the Sambergization of transgressive French tweeism

i was thinking that, as an apparent smoker, the lavant character (angel?) is lucky to "play" so many smokers in the world

but whoever the director is - whoever's in charge of all those limos - probably thinks of that, or has a heavenly HR department who does

note how i'm speaking as if i have any clue what any of this movie is about

noted.

i was thinking that, as an apparent smoker, the lavant character (angel?) is lucky to "play" so many smokers in the world

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, October 1, 2013 3:43 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah it's France tho

pola X is a good movie. great soundtrack. why does no one talk about this one? even in all the "carax comeback, y'all" articles ca. holy motors it was mostly mentioned as a flop that could have ended his career.

where i work/study i'm the only of my cohort old enough to have actually seen this when it came out, or at least old enough to have actually gone to see a leos carax film at the turn of the millennium. nobody knows this movie! nobody talks about it! whyyyyyy?

also kind of ahead of its time in terms of the graphic sex in it -- buncha french films of the '00s would carry on w/ that.

Carax's debut feature newly restored + NYC retro

http://www.fandor.com/keyframe/daily-leos-carax

saw this last night.. i'd kind of always assumed from the dvd cover that this would be some sort of car action romp.

i saw this a couple of weeks ago. hard to define what its ABOUT (explanations of it are a bit unsatisfactory too) but I dont really mind. it was compelling viewing which is fine by me

I'm not hung-up about explanations. It's just a good excuse to showcase some offbeat ideas and spectacular acting talent.

Very cool

Reminded me of Uncle Boonmee