Seat@theBack wrote: ↑Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:29 am
XAMILC
A wild delirious ride through a throbbing, locked in, landscape
A dance studio more like an abattoir's decor for an audition
Isolation and claustrophobia in a room too ready for sacrifice
Contorted shapes and silhouettes of dancers deranged
Spiked cocktails take the young crowd into violent disorder
Lycra clad bodies twist and weave beautifully into tainted hate
Illicit sex, pack violence, self harm on the dance floor
(You better not lose control - DJ)
CLIMAX opened with dancer's auditions being watched by NOE
In his room a VHS tape pile includes SUSPIRIA and POSSESSION
One of the dancers has a grudge and is about to create chaos
End credits appear at the start and opened up in the middle
It's more like being in a club or a gig than sitting in a cinema
Dialogue is mainly improvised and violence is extreme
Actions are captured on a camcorder that spins and upends
And stays upside down
Disorientation is absolute
Some walkouts ensue
One watcher near me covers her face with her coat when the little boy trapped in a room on a really bad trip starts to scream and beat at the door
Authentically upsetting and horrifying
Sofia Boutella as Selva was captivating, endearing, tough, but NOE's camera switched loyalty along the way - always focused on those with most risk
The dancers were lithe with effortless eroticism and oozing kink - never to be forgotten
You wonder whether - had full sex ensued or actual harm begun - NOE's camera would have stopped running
You wonder - whether actual harm or sex had begun
You think - was NOE disappointed that some of the dancers DIDN'T go far enough?
The soundtrack took the place of plot and progression
NOE didn't want a film going through the traditional movie making process with contracts to be signed and regular auditions to be held
The auditions became the film
The bloody crawl through snow at the beginning wasn't planned; it looked good outside so NOE asked a dancer to go out and start crawling for home
The primary colour-lit corridors were just like the witch's warrens in Argento's SUSPIRIA on a really bad trip - remember that VHS that NOE still owns?
The dance school was SUSPIRIA grown up (a little) to a whole new level of chaos - an unofficial and more extreme remake to the one coming soon?
The wicked witch spiked the punch
Gore effects limited but a slow bleeding cut arm and face stunned - how did NOE do that?
Sex unexpectedly restrained but sexuality still oozed in pores
(She should have used the bathroom!)
First half, as panic sets in, more terrifying than the comedown
This is how it ought to feel and as the room slips towards sleep
This is not a fault
Waking up feels almost guilty: "we didn't do anything" - did we
Did - we?
This is a cinematic masterpiece in identification with terror and chaos
An antidote to LOVE
This is not cinema - this is a weapon.
Welcome to the room GASPAR
Come back to us soon
Credit to the FRIGHTFEST team for getting you here
The BFI "preview" this film in two weeks time
GASPAR chose HORROR to take the trip first
I couldn't stop grinning when I left the screening - spiked out by cinema
I was grinning so much I walked past NOE who did a double take - and smiled back
Sometimes there are no words needed
Just the pulse and thud of the baseness within us all
Exposed by this man
As we sit strapped to our seats
Beneath a cinema screen
One last thing
But in the middle section I swear I spotted a forbidden image and maybe a clue to the identity of who spiked the drink
Spoiler free moment
I won't say who did it
And if you saw it too - don't you dare!
This is not cinema.
This is a weapon.
XAMILC / FRIGHTFEST 2018