You should see "Run Lola Run". Its a German film that is similar in many ways. Its portrayal of time and suspense is disorienting and yet beautiful and there are some also very heavy butterfly effect themes within the movie. I really recommend you watch it. Thanks for a wonderful review!
Lola Rennt is amazing, the music worth watch this movie with club speakers. I think is much more better built than this Nocturama. which has also great music. Why the Police shot everybody in the end, execution style, even those not having any guns, even the last one, asking for help? This is the law in France? Were they sure (all) the young were involved? They doesn't have to bring them to a trial? I understand the line of the film and what mr Bonello commented, but the end is twisted jus for shock the audience, in my opinion, just for the sake of shocking. Anyway, the length of the move is way too big, the first part is boring, the actions are unclear - why and who killed that young in that empty floor? - the second part is also boring and unclear, why do they hide in a mall, wtf?, while the ending is cruel without any reason but hoping the movie will be controversial at his most.
Hi! I popped in to hear your words on The Holy Mountain and I'm happy to say you've effectively expanded my horizons from there - I don't think you are reading too deeply in regards of the mirrors in Nocturama being a metaphor for filmmaking itself. In my opinion, and this may be bold, all the most noteworthy directors, popular or not, seem to tap into this very self-aware vein of parody that almost seems to ironically mock the stigma of egotism in auteurs. I haven't seen a movie where this looking glass idea is as heavily employed (normally its subliminally embedded in the backdrop) as it is in Quentin Dupieux's Reality. It is much more introspective than Rubber. He is sort of like David Lynch, only Dupieux's surreal element conveys more often comedy than fear. I recommend it to you. You might get a kick out of it. Any who, the tradition here is very reminiscent of the novelist making the main character a writer, or when he describes the act of writing itself. But yes, I agree when you say metaphors for filmmaking itself are embedded into films with sardonic undertones and the mirrors in Nocturama seem to be no exception.
I've been looking forward to this movie since my friend saw it at a festival a while ago! I actually just saw it today and whoa man was it worth the wait. I loved it. Such an interesting commentary on the sort of ... frustrated millennial mindset of wanting to be heard but not really having much to say. I loved Bonello's execution of the "show don't tell" rule. I loved the dialogueless moments more than the ones WITH dialogue, which is almost never the case. His use of music -- both modern and "retro" -- was so inspired. Overall the thing I loved most was how Bonello didn't choose sides. Both parties are ones to be feared. And the fact that the terrorists weren't some radical religious extremists and were instead Parisians who had had enough of the government was such an important distinction. I'm getting carried away but loved your review!
Could you make a review of an Australian film called Wake in Fright, it's about an English teacher at the end of term who loses his only way of getting home gambling, this happens to be a very serious thing in the 70's when your in the middle of the outback hundreds of miles from the nearest town. He then gets sucked into a world he doesn't belong to and forgets who he is.
I saw your review some time ago and it made me curious about the movie. It popped up recently on (French) Netflix and watching was such a great experience!!! I really loved it, thanks a lot for making me curious about it and for your great review (as usual!)! I have a suggestion for you that might be a bit unusual: "Serial Experiments: Lain"... just a thought!
There are lot of French influences too: I definitely feel Jacques Tati influence, Playtime especially, and there was a film back in the 1980's, a kind of subculture hit, called Subway (with Christophe Lambert) . . . Bonelli is an excellent new voice in cinema ❤🙏🏾🎞
I see this movie is available at Grasshopper Films now, and looked interesting. And this review certainly makes it sound more compelling. I always remember Tom Brokaw talking of his trip to Iran and talking with university students. Kids wanting to get into medicine, design, science, etc. They were all fascinated with John Denver, Mickey Mouse, and other things of a retro American culture. Tom informed them what's still prevalent and what's gone by the wayside, to their joy and sadness. Then Tom asked once they graduate where did they plan to go and pursue their careers? And without missing a beat they pretty well all responded 'we plan to give ourselves to quelling the infidels. Death to America!'. Bad enough when it's a country like Iran that's brainwashed its population so deeply. But what I see now, and what Nocturama seems to be focusing on are the 'psuedo-brainwashed' and the mentality of 'destruction is the path to success'. And what triggers that in a 1st world society and culture? The easy scapegoat is movies, TV, music enticing kids to rebel. But then as you say 'consumerism'. A $2 DVD mass produced by machines, a $200 pair of sneakers - made mostly from slave labor, and a $2000.00 80" LCD 4k HD TV. Those 3 things certainly make me say WTF? This discrepancy of cheap mass vs. exigent branding - billions of dollars to be made by exploiting the poorest, crushing the competition, and revolutionizing economy by on-line purchasing, bit coin, and the cowardly fear of a global pandemic. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer - and someone SHOULD pay. So it sounds like Nocturama may have put this into some clear/unclear form.
Came across your videos randomly and I’m very happy I did. I’ve always enjoyed movies that most wouldn’t take the time to view as well as ones very mainstream. You definitely opened my eyes to the way movies should be viewed apart from just storyline and plot. I’ve definitely caught myself watching a movie and wondering what the heck it was all even about and so by watch some of your reviews I have a better understanding. I’m definitely gonna continue to watch your reviews and the movies along with you. There is something about you that’s captivating. Oh and I noticed your “Sex Mix” by the way lol, 😎😉
It's a great film indeed. I saw it at IFFR in January with a Q&A with Bertrand Bonello afterwards. My compliments for your reviews. Hoping one day your review for Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter or Exotica will be added. Or the other great films from this year, that I all saw last week at my local filmfestival: The Square, Loveless, Happy End, 120 BPM and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
I think that the political ideology of these characters can be defined by the scene where one character is worried that the homeless people will snitch on them to the government for what they did and the other character, very confidently, denied that this would happen, only by saying "they're homeless." I think that this is an extremely important line in the movie. It asks, why should/would homeless people care what happens to government buildings? What has the government done to help them, when they had the power to, in spades?
Q&A: Which do you prefer, films about art (Mulholland Drive; Synecdoche, New York; Holy Motors; Birdman) or films about life (The Tree of Life; Boyhood; The Dance of Reality, Moonlight) I know obviously a lot of films including some I listed manage to explore both but generally which would you say appeal to you more
The best films explore both. For instance Holy Motors, Mulholland Drive, and Synecdoche New York are the best of both worlds. Technically they explore art, but you can't explore that without also understanding life and how existence ties into art. You could say the same for something like The Tree of Life or even Moonlight. They analyze art through an artistic lens. I don't prefer one over the other necessarily. Depends on my mood I suppose.
Good review, I also look for special kind of movies. However, is way too long, too often reaching the point of boring. I say that assuming I may be called stupid, but that is what I felt, despite I also felt is a special and good movie. Therefore, I had to play it fast forward a lot of scenes, not because I didn't get their sense, but because the director seemed to forget that pressing too much on the pedal of the scene may give not much deepness, but having the opposite effect, of diluting the sense while is extracting the viewer from the film. For example, the moment that guy is singing, is way too long and boring, making (some of) the audience exit the film atmosphere an say in its mind "ok, director, I get it, cut the scene for God's sake" and move to the next".
deepfocuslens It's impossibly hard for me as well, but if I HAD to choose one I would probably go with Moonlight. That film just does everything right for me and there is nothing about it that I would change. Writing, Characters Acting, Directing, Cinematography, Editing, everything is just perfect. It's extremely artistic but still grounded and accessible to everyone and its one of the most complex and emotional films I have ever seen. Some of my other favorites contain Birdman, Her, The Social Network, Boyhood, 12 Years a Slave, The Tree of Life, and Holy Motors. So many great ones as you said, but for me Moonlight takes the top spot.
Why the Police shot everybody in the end, execution style, even those not having any guns, even the last one, asking for help? This is the law in France, or is just for the sake of surreal atmosphere and shock the viewers, to get attention by brute executions? Were they sure (all) the young were involved? They doesn't have to bring them to a trial? I understand the line of the film and what mr Bonello commented, but the end is twisted jus for shock the audience, in my opinion, just for the sake of shocking. Anyway, the length of the move is way too big, the first part is boring, the actions are unclear - why and who killed that young in that empty floor? - the second part is also boring and unclear, why do they hide in a mall, wtf?, while the ending is cruel without any reason but hoping the movie will be controversial at his most.
