Repulsive, transgressive, unpredictable, sentimental... Leos Carax's Holy Motors is all these things and more. A raw, visceral celebration (condemnation?) of cinematic tropes and tricks, it's the only movie of recent memory that can inspire revulsion and even tears within just a few minutes.
Ostensibly, Holy Motors is about an actor moving from job to job (or "appointments," as he and his chauffeur refer to them), and all his joys, successes, heartbreaks, and failures throughout the course of a single day. A similar description could apply to James Joyce's groundbreaking novel, Ulysses, but a more apt comparison would be to his follow-up, Finnegans Wake (except for the part about the actor).
After all, it's not like this is simply about what you see and what you hear... except when it is. This isn't about "plot"... except when it is.
Holy Motors is about attitude, joy, emotion, aggression, love, sexuality, familiarity... About how a lot of us just spend our days shuffling along from "appointment to appointment" - changing our roles, our appearances, and our behaviors depending on what's expected of us and what we expect of the world... But that's too simplistic and "artsy" a description.
It's also about chaos, the unexpected, and doing something because you want to, because you can, because you know it's right, or because you know it's wrong. When you get right down to it, a number of things in this film almost make you laugh because they're just so preposterous... and then a number of things DO make you laugh because they're just so preposterous... and while you could easily dismiss the film for being weird for weird's sake, there's a lot more at play here than that - and you know it. There's a confidence here, a swagger sorely missing from mainstream movies. Carax and his team had a clear vision, and they went out and put it on screen. For good or ill, they pulled it off.
If you decry Hollywood for not taking chances, then - please - watch this movie and all its chances.
What other movie can make you laugh, gasp, and tingle? think about your place in the world, in the universe... in your own life? can ramble along, tearing through everything in sight with such anger and ferocity... and then leave you heartsick, longing for love, and caught up in a musical number? In many ways, Holy Motors is about manipulation - how we manipulate others and ourselves, and (on a more basic level) how storytellers manipulate their stories and their audiences simultaneously. It defies cliches, and then indulges in the very cliches it defies.
(Also, this doesn't really fit with the rest of the review, but something has to be said for the work of lead actor Denis Lavant. Playing eleven characters is a daunting task for any actor, but he pulls it off incredibly. Aside from some interaction with his chauffeur and a female analog late in the film, this is essentially a one-man show. Not only does he play different characters, he creates an entirely different physicality and appearance for each one. They move differently, they talk differently. It's really something extraordinary.)
I loved this movie within about two minutes of watching it, and while I can't say other readers will, you've at least got to admire the guts it took to make it.
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