Yeah, I’ve heard of that one. It just seemed a sort of shout-out or cameo though.
Perhaps one reason I didn’t like the movie was that I was watching the DVD on my computer and it was quite choppy. I changed it from full-screen to a much smaller one but I don’t think that resulted in any fewer frames being dropped (more than double the ones that were drawn).
Memento had a reason to put the scenes in reverse order, but I don’t really understand why they did it that way here. Also, I did not really see the Blowhard point about the movie really being about immigration to France. The Chinese cab-driver was, if anything, more sympathetic than Marcus, as was the Spanish tranny.
When you consider the misguided nationalism that animates “The Butcher” in I Stand Alone, the character’s expression of nihilistic resignation in Irreversible seems like more than a throwaway cameo.
I think the reverse narrative is meant to convey a sense of avoidable momentum, or foregone hope. I don’t think Irreversible is a parable about immigration so much as it’s about the narcissistic roots of French - or European - declension, provocatively signaled by the hedonistic abandon of the gay (i.e., non-regenerative) underworld. And I think it’s significant that the dynamic figure in the film is Pierre, not Marcus; he’s the coward who (like David in Straw Dogs) is ultimately moved to action. Did you notice that his victim isn’t La Tenia? To me, this point alone is suggestive of a deeper theme, as is his choice of weapon.
I had read elsewhere that the victim wasn’t La Tenia, but I couldn’t really tell watching it. I didn’t see anything significant about the weapon, I thought it was just a blunt object that happened to be handy. Is it supposed to represent putting out the fire of hedonism or something?
Btw , it’s “LE Tenia” , meaning tapeworm.
I watched this movie a few years ago and i was quite shaken (!!! indeed ).
I don’t know quite a lot about Gaspar Noé but I got the feeling that he was some kind of counter cultural conservative. The term counter cultural conservative is applied to people holding right wing views who mingle or used to mingle with the fetish/SM/industrial/druggie and more recently blackmetal crowd . Jim Goad , whom TGGP is very familiar with, is somewhat like that .
Did this movie just get released in the USA ?
I’m not really all that familiar with Jim Goad, but I’ve read a little from him. I hadn’t heard of “counter-cultural conservative” before, but I had heard of Ernst Junger and the “revolutionary conservatives”.
TGGP :
You refered to Jim Goad a few times, i think, so i thought that you were a fan. I remember reading his stuff ( Answer me magazine ) a few years ago when i was actively looking out for “edgy” stuff. I don’t care much about that stuff anymore though .The term counter cultural conservative might be much more obscure than i imagined. I guess one has to be into the whole postindustrial/neofolk music scene to be aware of people like Boyd Rice , Douglas Pierce ( death in june) and their acolytes. Their conservatism isn’t the bible based american stuff at all. Think of heathenism, militarism , ethnocentrism , belief in inequality, eurocentrism . The european New Right stuff, basically .
April 27, 2008 at 4:28 am
Trolling IRL.
April 27, 2008 at 9:08 am
To fully appreciate the beginning, i.e., the end, see Noe’s angrier film, I Stand Alone.
April 27, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Yeah, I’ve heard of that one. It just seemed a sort of shout-out or cameo though.
Perhaps one reason I didn’t like the movie was that I was watching the DVD on my computer and it was quite choppy. I changed it from full-screen to a much smaller one but I don’t think that resulted in any fewer frames being dropped (more than double the ones that were drawn).
Memento had a reason to put the scenes in reverse order, but I don’t really understand why they did it that way here. Also, I did not really see the Blowhard point about the movie really being about immigration to France. The Chinese cab-driver was, if anything, more sympathetic than Marcus, as was the Spanish tranny.
April 27, 2008 at 2:27 pm
When you consider the misguided nationalism that animates “The Butcher” in I Stand Alone, the character’s expression of nihilistic resignation in Irreversible seems like more than a throwaway cameo.
I think the reverse narrative is meant to convey a sense of avoidable momentum, or foregone hope. I don’t think Irreversible is a parable about immigration so much as it’s about the narcissistic roots of French - or European - declension, provocatively signaled by the hedonistic abandon of the gay (i.e., non-regenerative) underworld. And I think it’s significant that the dynamic figure in the film is Pierre, not Marcus; he’s the coward who (like David in Straw Dogs) is ultimately moved to action. Did you notice that his victim isn’t La Tenia? To me, this point alone is suggestive of a deeper theme, as is his choice of weapon.
April 27, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I had read elsewhere that the victim wasn’t La Tenia, but I couldn’t really tell watching it. I didn’t see anything significant about the weapon, I thought it was just a blunt object that happened to be handy. Is it supposed to represent putting out the fire of hedonism or something?
April 27, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Maybe something, maybe nothing. But I quite like the film, regardless. It’s a sumptuous spiral.
May 4, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Btw , it’s “LE Tenia” , meaning tapeworm.
I watched this movie a few years ago and i was quite shaken (!!! indeed ).
I don’t know quite a lot about Gaspar Noé but I got the feeling that he was some kind of counter cultural conservative. The term counter cultural conservative is applied to people holding right wing views who mingle or used to mingle with the fetish/SM/industrial/druggie and more recently blackmetal crowd . Jim Goad , whom TGGP is very familiar with, is somewhat like that .
Did this movie just get released in the USA ?
May 4, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I’m not really all that familiar with Jim Goad, but I’ve read a little from him. I hadn’t heard of “counter-cultural conservative” before, but I had heard of Ernst Junger and the “revolutionary conservatives”.
May 4, 2008 at 8:13 pm
TGGP :
You refered to Jim Goad a few times, i think, so i thought that you were a fan. I remember reading his stuff ( Answer me magazine ) a few years ago when i was actively looking out for “edgy” stuff. I don’t care much about that stuff anymore though .The term counter cultural conservative might be much more obscure than i imagined. I guess one has to be into the whole postindustrial/neofolk music scene to be aware of people like Boyd Rice , Douglas Pierce ( death in june) and their acolytes. Their conservatism isn’t the bible based american stuff at all. Think of heathenism, militarism , ethnocentrism , belief in inequality, eurocentrism . The european New Right stuff, basically .