Irreversible

More visual thrills and cod-Philosophy from Gaspar Noe, 2002
starts with that overhead, swirly camerawork
almost impossible to know what's going on, pointless
frenetic mix of strobes in hellish half world
settles down more, with frontlighting
characters telephoted into background, yellowish light
Noe shows us disgusting, shocking images
nothing wrong per se, but why does he show it?
glorifies it, largely not, one cut in at end of rape scene
need purpose to show it; fails, becomes just random
lack of social context
message is basically that shit happens, little there at all
formal excitment of epically long takes (certain cheats of course)
best scene is the juxtaposition of graphic conversation (Woody Allen?) on public transport
largely for the fun of it, but nice simplicity in parts
fails to find a reason for this
Noe manages to make us think about violence by technique, but the conclusion is that he is wrong