 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Climax • Year: 2018 • Country: France • Director: Gaspar Noé • Main cast: Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub • Runtime: 95 minutes • Production company: Rectangle Productions, Wild Bunch, Les Cinémas de la Zone • TRAILER |
A new film by Gaspar Noé is always an experience that will last in your memory. The filmmaker has found his place in the industry as one of the most innovative creators in the terms of images, graphics and storytelling. Pretty much, there is only black and white with Noé, you either love him or hate him. I must admit I shouldn’t place myself on his fans side, but I am always up for new things. And at a festival like Sitges Film Festival, if one of his works is in the line-up, I think it’s a mandatory watch.
Climax (2018) is closer in aesthetics and film treatment to one of the most celebrated works of the filmmaker, Enter the Void (2009). The plot this time is very simple, and far away from any supernatural or fantasy-related story. A group of street dancers locks themselves up in an abandoned school in the winter of 1996 in France. They are at the inception of creating a new show, so they are on the process of knowing their art, experimenting with routines and, overall, party. But like if it was the Ramones song, “Somebody put something in their drink”, their homemade sangria got mixed with some kind of unexpected psychotropic substance. And the mix of alcohol and hallucinating drugs start to drive the kids crazy. One by one. Each one of them facing their inner self. The shield is out, now they are naked and they have to deal with what they really are.
The story is very simple. The kids lose control. Whoever is violent becomes more violent. Whoever is sex-obsessed becomes a horny unstoppable fornicating machine. And whoever gives a fuck of anything would disconnect from reality and pee in the middle of the dance floor. Like that, the movie becomes an express train with no breaks, and one can know the collision is going to be inevitable. As simple as life.
Gaspar Noé did a good job in directing and, overall editing the whole thing. Because the movie is a collection of very long takes of dancing performances, the characters chatting in the party mode, and then hell broke loose. Most of it improvised by the actors and under the directions of a Noé that is clearly doing whatever he wants. It was said the idea of this film came from his dreams and nightmares… Well, it sure feels more like a movie coming from the subconscious than from a conscient and meditated reality.
The strong side of the movie is clearly the images, their treatment and, above all things, the filming choreographies. Noé does whatever he wants with the camera, which practically becomes another dancer on the scene. Crazy angles, non-stop moving sequences, he brings the audience into the abandoned school to make us be one more of the crew. That is, undoubtfully, the biggest strength the movie has and why it will outstand in front of any other title screened recently. The dancers were good, and could actually act decently enough. And the social conflict was also there, as part of the story, as it is part of our society. Climax (2018) tries to make us meditate about who and what we really are. If we found yourself in an extreme situation like that, feeling absolutely out of control, not knowing if your neighbor is friend or foe, how will you react? Will you try to help, assault or fornicate the one next to you? Or will you just stay there not giving any fuck? That, under the umbrella of Gaspar Noé’s style of filming, makes this movie a not so easy one to digest for the big masses. With Climax (2018) you must know what you’re going to watch. I was in the middle of the hate-love dispute regarding Noé’s work, and my opinion hasn’t changed. For moments I felt watching Climax (2018) was dull, boring and close to torture. But the afterward meditating and discussing of the movie was a good exercise. So beware, know what this is because this is not for everyone.
RATE: 6/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt8359848
