So everyone has gone ga-ga for Leos Carax‘s Holy Motors. It’s at 92% on RottenTomatoes at the moment and, according to the newly released trailer, the Village Voice (even though I can’t find the quote online) is saying it “may be the best movie of the year.” Gotta love that declarative “may be”.
The truth of the matter is, Holy Motors is New York Post has separated himself from the masses calling it the “sort of enigmatic movie that many critics embrace because it’s open to endless interpretation.”
To that point, Manhola Dargis at the New York Times offers up this comment:
Mr. Carax never explains his intentions — and why Mr. Oscar appears like a demon in one scene and a mustachioed baldie with a knife in the next — leaving you to piece together meaning, or meanings. All movies demand interpretation, but Mr. Carax doesn’t seem interested in your solving his puzzle, which allows you to solve it as you like. About all that’s clear is that Mr. Oscar works for an entity, perhaps God, which also makes this a movie about filmmaking and the ecstasy of creation.
Reading these reviews is to relive the minutes I spent outside the theater in Cannes discussing what we’d just seen. The interpretations most have come to are base level and obvious. What’s left after that? As far as I’m concerned nothing as I have seen the film and hold no desire to see it again. Then again, even I have to admit this just-released trailer is actually quite kick-ass.
After that I’ve included a clip from the film courtesy of Slate.
The film stars Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, Kylie Minogue and Eva Mendes and, as I said, it opened in New York alone today, but if you’re interested you can find the full theater list here and you can read my review from the Cannes Film Festival right here.
