Sin #93: Higher Ground

Imagine a stark, dirty room on top of a complex housing building, facing a city highlighted by bright neon lights. A man lights up his pipe and, suddenly, the bright stains outside become abstractions, kaleidoscopic fractals of surreal, ethereal beauty. The bliss of this heightened reality doesn’t last very long and the man turns away and goes on his very last job as a dealer.

We are forced to relate to this man, forced to see through his eyes and forced to remember his childhood, his parents’ tragic accident and his relationship with his sister, another lonely soul wandering the streets of Tokyo through the dangers of drug addiction and prostitution.

“Enter the Void” is a fascinating experiment, but not quite a successful one. It pulls us in, deeply, into the lives of broken and ultimately empty human beings and tries to give some spiritual weight to their experiences. Some images burn the screen and remain powerful as isolated shorts but they never quite gel as a cohesive whole. And after the film goes through the very simple arc of its characters, it goes on in a compulsory and repetitive succession of meaningless transitions. Here’s a film that could easily lose about 45 minutes of its run time and probably benefit from it.

The director, Gaspar Noe, shows a unique vision by seamlessly blending digital effects with optical tricks and weird camera angles. The movie is visually amazing even if ultimately pointless (it establishes its creativity from the very beginning with a chaotic and startling title sequence).

Noe was also responsible for the controversial “Irreversible” with its infamous rape scene featuring Monica Bellucci. That movie was also a visceral experiment in revenge and sexual violence in film filled with visual panache and focused performances. “Irreversible” is not a pleasant time at the theater but it’s a more accomplished movie than “Enter the Void” (even though its technical wonders kind of compensate for its lack of structure).

The best movie about addiction remains Darren Aronofsky’s “Requiem for a Dream”. It’s an acting tour de force and also an intense experience that plunges us into the very heart of darkness. The first time I saw it I was completely blown away by its directing style (Aronofsky uses close-ups, acute sounds and split screens to emulate the experience of taking drugs), and after multiple viewings I focused on the actors who really bare their souls for their roles. Ellen Burstyn in particular, achieves an astonishing transformation as a lonely widow gradually losing her mind. The film closes with a brutal and mesmerizing montage that culminates with the horrific consequences for each of the characters. “Requiem for a Dream” invests in its characters and sort of makes them implode through their addictions and, by avoiding any kind of catharsis, it gives the story a heartbreaking ache. “Enter the Void” isn’t nowhere near as poignant since its characters are empty shells; merely narrative vehicles for its audacious style.

None of these movies, however, glorify the experience of taking drugs and offer a raw glimpse into hell. By not patronizing an audience and offering a contrived happy ending, they remain powerful indictments against addiction.