Film4 showcases the widest range of titles including classics, the latest hollywood epics, the best of us and uk independent cinema, foreign flicks and cult cinema. In 2009, the greek familytorture movie dogtooth fit the bill. The film competed for the palme dor at the 2012 cannes film festival. Throughout the film, death and resurrections imply that perhaps the reality of film or even a film within a film, is not necessarily lesser than the reality outside film. The film is a 20% german coproduction through the company pandora, and received 350,000 from the francogerman coproduction support committee. There is a scene in holy motors, the new film by leos carax, in which two longlost characters are reunited. French cinema doesnt get much weirder than leos caraxs holy motors. Leos carax explains holy motors and why he wants to. She was an angel i needed video interview holy motors director leos carax and the film s star, kylie minogue, talk to the guardian s film critic peter bradshaw 9.
That being said, lets talk about leos caraxs latest film holy motors. It pays loving homage to everything that makes movies great. We are reposting as you can currently watch holy motors at sbs on demand for a limited time. Oct 15, 2012 the latest example is caraxs holy motors, the cannes competition feature that has been making the rounds on the festival circuit and recently landed at the new york film festival. Dec 28, 2012 whether you loved it, hated it, or were scratching your head all the way through, leos caraxs holy motors is a memorable film. The triumph of leos caraxs mauvais sang 1986 the village. The parts he plays are quite strange and varied throughout his journey, wither it be an old woman a deranged trampleprechaun. Making movies is like playing a musical instrumentit helps to stay in practice. This of course is of particular interest when it comes to leos caraxs 2012 frenchgerman film holy motors, in which the french film director uses a metaphysical dreamscape to channel life as it is experienced while deliberately calling attention to the film s construct of itself as a film. Holy motors is a french film from director leos carax.
It is a reverie that begins, appropriately, with a seated audience waiting in. The film opens on a character played by director leos carax known only as le dormeur. Exhilarating, opaque, heartbreaking and completely bonkers french auteur leos caraxs socalled comeback film, holy motors, is a deliciously preposterous piece of filmmaking that appraises life and death and everything in between, reflected in a funhouse mirror. Holy motors stretches our collective imagination as carax delights in reminding us that anything can happen in the movies, even movies anchored in what appears to be contemporary reality. The purpose of this feature is to present a unique format that is personal, colorful and informative. With holy motors carax has returned to paris and lavant, but they are both older, though scarcely more accommodated to bourgeois life except in the parodic manner with which the film. He was also forced to shoot it using a digital camera, for economys sake, even though the film sides squarely with the fastdisappearing world of projectors and other great lumbering. Nov 16, 2012 a few writers from way too indie sit down to discuss, analyze and breakdown some of the elements found in holy motors. It is never easy for a limited release, but of all of the film s on this weeks list, this one has the best shot at the box office. One of them tells the other, we have 20 minutes to catch up on 20 years. Holy motors is like a more outthere version of the films of charlie kaufman. They revive this segment with lavant as a sewer dwelling troll and blend it in with the story of monsieur oscar lavant being limousined around paris to meet his nine appointments. Both end with their limousines going home for the night, answering a question asked in cosmopolis, although when the limo in holy motors gets home, its day is far from over. Oct 17, 2012 unclassifiable, expansive, and breathtaking, holy motors, the first featurelength film from leos carax since pola x 1999and only his fifth in 28 yearsreceived a log line of sorts from its.
Despite not being a selfreclaimed surreal film, holy motors merger of both dream and cinema as well as its malleability in interpretation elevates the enigmatic film to the highest of surrealisms concepts. Thats why its such a wondrous surprise that leos caraxs new film, holy motors which opens today at film forum and film society of lincoln center, seems at once so precise and so freewheeling, so exactingly conceived and yet so spontaneous. A few writers from way too indie sit down to discuss, analyze and breakdown some of the elements found in holy motors. Holy motors was produced through pierre grise productions for a budget of 3. Nov 27, 20 in boy meets girl, mauvais sang, and the lovers on the bridge 1991, the actor plays a character named alex caraxs real first name. Holy motors audaciously giving itself license to do whatever it wants, leos caraxs narratively unhinged, beautifully shot and frequently hilarious holy motors coheres arguably, anyway. Perhaps the most mesmerizing, poetic, baffling, and elusive filmmaker in france, leos carax has completed only five feature films in 28 years, yet all of them, including this one, are quite unlike anything else ever made. To give you an idea, the film opens with the 51yearold director waking up in the night, sprouting a drill from his middle finger, busting through a hidden door in the wall of his bedroom and walking onto the rear balcony of a packed cinema. Oct 14, 2012 making movies is like playing a musical instrumentit helps to stay in practice. She was an angel i needed video interview holy motors director leos carax and the film s star, kylie minogue, talk to the guardian s film.
Leos caraxs astonishing holy motors the new yorker. Holy motors is the more entertaining and funny of the two, although some parts are not funny at all, and many laughs are of disbelief or incredulity. Sep 29, 2012 with holy motors carax has returned to paris and lavant, but they are both older, though scarcely more accommodated to bourgeois life except in the parodic manner with which the film begins and ends. Reactions from the staff below may contain some spoilers. Leos carax makes holy motors with film historys help the. Holy motors, from the french filmmaker leos carax, is a dream of the movies that looks like a movie of dreams.
The more i think about leos caraxs holy motors, the more i appreciate it. Holy motors is deeply felt, but it also comes with a certain unsettling quality. Surreal dreamlike drama following denis levants character sometimes called alex, sometimes monsieur oscar through a few hours and a number of lives as he travels to various appointments, each time transforming himself with disguises in a dressing room within his limousine. Exhilarating, opaque, heartbreaking and completely bonkers french auteur leos caraxs so called comeback film, holy motors, is a deliciously preposterous piece of filmmaking that appraises life and death and everything in between, reflected in a funhouse mirror. Holy motors is a 2012 frenchgerman fantasy drama film written and directed by leos carax, starring denis lavant and edith scob. Holy motors is the most inventive movie of the last two. Sara necessario proporre unanalisi approfondita, che penetri nei meandri delle immagini proposte dal cineasta francese. Eva mendes doesnt get a lot of screen time in leos caraxs nutty and beguiling art house hit holy motors, but she sure leaves a mark. Reteaming with lovers on the bridge star denis lavant. Unclassifiable, expansive, and breathtaking, holy motors, the first featurelength film from leos carax since pola x 1999and only his fifth in 28 yearsreceived a log line of sorts from its.
Whether you loved it, hated it, or were scratching your head all the way through, leos caraxs holy motors is a memorable film. This is a film that can be difficult to fully interpret because there are many possible meanings behind what goes on. This disjointed, manic work is one of the most original and. Holy motors is a poem to the dying medium of celluloid, but like the greatest eulogies, it also fills the message with undeniable hope.
Lavant plays a man who travels between multiple parallel lives. Caraxs segment for the film, called merde, starred lavant as a violent monster who lives in the sewers of tokyo and speaks in a gibberish language, venturing out occasionally to attack passersby. After waking up one morning, he somehow locates and opens a secret door in his apartment, and wanders into a packed movie house where an audience watches king vidor s classic the crowd and a. With denis lavant, edith scob, eva mendes, kylie minogue.
You should expect surreal surprises, and my advice would be to not read too much about it before watching it, so you can just let the film happen to you, like an art experience. The more i analyze holy motors, the more i am frustratingly confounded by it. In 2012 he starred in leos carax film holy motors where he plays a chameleonic actor on assignment, ferried around paris in a white limousine. May 20, 20 last year it was holy motors, leos caraxs surrealist collection of stories about a paris shapeshifter. Nov 19, 2012 eva mendes doesnt get a lot of screen time in leos caraxs nutty and beguiling art house hit holy motors, but she sure leaves a mark.
Oscar, a man not unlike an actor who inhabits several roles, but there are no apparent cameras filming the mans performances. Nov, 2012 the more i think about leos caraxs holy motors, the more i appreciate it. Film 4 filmon tv live tv movies and social television. Exhilarating, opaque, heartbreaking and completely bonkers french auteur leos caraxs socalled comeback film, holy motors, is a deliciously preposterous piece of filmmaking that appraises life. Exhilarating, opaque, heartbreaking and completely bonkers french auteur leos caraxs so called comeback film, holy motors, is a deliciously preposterous piece of filmmaking that appraises. In boy meets girl, mauvais sang, and the lovers on the bridge 1991, the actor plays a character named alex caraxs real first name. An indepth analysis is needed in order to scrutinize the picture of the french movie director. Exhilarating, opaque, heartbreaking and completely bonkers french auteur leos caraxs so called comeback film, holy motors, is a deliciously preposterous piece of filmmaking that appraises life and death. The latest example is caraxs holy motors, the cannes competition feature that has been making the rounds on the festival circuit and recently landed at the new york film festival. Holy motors is one of them, but while it should do well in art house theaters, its chances at mainstream success is a lot more limited. Staff discussion and analysis of holy motors features way. Holy motors is a 2012 francogerman fantasy drama written and directed by leos carax, starring denis lavant, edith scob and kylie minogue in a small part lavant plays mr.
Its a film of such unique sensibilities, that, in passing, i could hail as a potential masterpiece. The plot is about an actor playing about 10 different parts and travelling around paris to act them at various locations. Last year it was holy motors, leos caraxs surrealist collection of stories about a paris shapeshifter. Lavant plays mr oscar, a man like an actor who inhabits several roles, but there are no apparent cameras filming the mans performances. Both end with their limousines going home for the night, answering a question asked in cosmopolis, although when the. From dawn to dusk, a few hours in the shadowy life of a mystic man named monsieur oscar. Denis lavants role is either an actor playing different characters in different situations, an actor playing. Holy motors 2012 is a french experimental film set with various plot theories. Feb 28, 20 holy motors is a poem to the dying medium of celluloid, but like the greatest eulogies, it also fills the message with undeniable hope. Holy motors general theme is apparently concerned with the idea of viewing and whether a beholder inhabits the space theyre in or the space their mind is in.
Scene after scene, using the extraordinary lavant as a. Film4s unbeatable lineup of great movies guarantees something for every type of film fan. Set in paris, holy motors follows a middleaged man named oscar denis lavant. Denis lavants role is either an actor playing different characters in different situations, an actor playing different film characters and jumping from genre to genre of film, or an actor temporarily replacing the lives. Holy motors is his first feature since, and carax has admitted that its microstories represent various ideas hes been unable to make over the past years. Jun 02, 2017 surrealist luis bunuel once stated, film seems to be the involuntary imitation of the dream. Holy motors, from the french filmmaker leos carax the new. Holy motors shapeshifting conceit was ideal, as it allowed him to leap from one outre idea to another without worrying much about forging plausible connections. Holy motors the art and popular culture encyclopedia. The movie, lavant says, originated in a short film that never got made and that was, in fact, to be called actor.