2010: An Afterlife Odyssey

3.5/4 or 4/5

Enter the Void, the third film from French visionary director Gaspar Noe, is the film everyone wanted Inception to be: mind-bending, transcendent, mesmerizing.

While tough on the rear-end and not for the squeamish, Enter the Void tries to be a cinematic drug trip. Told entirely via POV of the main character, Oskar (Nathaniel Brown), the film follows Oskar’s soul as it floats through Tokyo watching over his sister (Paz de la Huerta) whom he promised never to leave. Beginning on the night of his death (no spoiler here, it happens at minute 35 of 163), we see the world from Oskar’s eyes on this side and the next. The middle of the film provides the end-of-life flashback through Oskar’s life, and the final chapter is the search for rebirth.

The film references the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Early on in the film, two characters talk at length about the book and the promises it makes about death and the hereafter. While this exposition feels a bit clunky, it is necessary for understanding what we are about to see.

As children, Oskar and Linda witnessed the death of their parents from a graphic car accident. The experience draws the two together (perhaps too closely), and they promise to never leave each other “never ever.” Oskar promises Linda that even if he dies, “he’ll come back.” The two are then placed in separate foster homes and reunited years later in Tokyo.

Tokyo, photographed with lush and vibrant colours and set design with a floating camera, represents both a moral wasteland (Oskar is a drug dealer and Linda a stripper) and a sort of purgatory, where one makes sense of their life after they have died.

I feel obligated to say that Enter to Void is not for everyone. While it is clearly the work of an auteur who is trying to create something we have never seen before, the film is quite graphic violently and sexually. Furthermore, the visuals, while breathtaking are arresting, like a psychedelic odyssey. Noe is known for taking no hostages. His 2002 film Irreversible is told, well…in reverse, and features a graphic 9-minute rape scene. Enter the Void is never quite that graphic, but viewers beware.

If I haven’t made it clear enough yet, the film looks amazing, unlike anything I have ever seen before. In addition, Noe’s narrative experiment is nothing short of intriguing, if it isn’t entirely successful. The direction is maverick, leading me to believe this is Noe’s film through and through; no other working director could have made the film quite this effectively. However, the writing seemed to take backseat to the visuals. Because of the constant POV, the viewer rarely gets to see Oskar’s face. Without seeing his crucial facial expressions and reaction to the world as he sees it, I had a hard time empathizing with Oskar, or knowing what he was really about.

It’s not often American audiences watch films from overseas. If you feel adventurous, give Enter the Void a try. You won’t be bored, or feel like you’ve seen this before. (Also, the dialogue is all in English). Enter the Void is at its soul an experiment; the result of an inspired artist stretching the limits of his medium. Even when Enter the Void comes up a bit short, its shameless ambition deserves high praise.

[Note: if you’re not interested in this film, at least go on YouTube and watch the opening credits sequence. It’ll blow your mind, and maybe give you a headache.]