Over two weeks has gone by since I watched Gaspar Noé's most recent feature, Climax. The majority of the film is isolated in a snowed-in school whereby a group of dancers are throwing a party to mark the end of their rehearsals. From start to finish I knew this was a film I was going to enjoy. I did not however anticipate how fresh this film would still feel upon its recollection nor how often I'd sit on the tube and just think "Yeah, that Climax film really was something." I'd suggest reading yesterday's post by Leo on Coda as this will be, to a degree an extension, of the ideas he also discussed. Namely, that film is an audio-visual medium yet there is a clear lack of a 50-50 divide between the two as we see deem audio as being secondary to the visuals. Let us explore how Noé strays away from what we typically associate with 'filmmaking'.
From the off Climax offers us something that is seldom seen on screen. The credits we almost always see at the end is given to us right at the start; Noé is getting all the pleasantries and necessities of film crediting out of the way in order to commence in indulging into the sound and surrealism of Climax. It made both myself and Leo laugh. How can someone have the nerve to start the film with showing these credits? But it makes perfect sense; it is a clear indication that Noé just wants you to realise and anticipate that this is not your average sit-down on a Sunday evening film, it means business. He also wants you to anticipate a number of other things such as soundtrack as within the credits he shows us all the songs that are to be played rather than have already played. I couldn't wait to see in what context Aphex Twin's Windowlicker was going to be used in a film that has just started with a drone shot of a bleeding woman in the snow, followed by the end credits.
We hear the interviews that the dancers give for a brief period and then we proceed to becoming locked in this hall with dance moves I have never seen before. There is an energy ignited so early that you appreciate Noé for not pussyfooting around, allowing us to get lost with our sensations. We don't know where to look, we don't know how to feel - at parts I caught myself moving with them as though I wanted to dance myself. The music used in companion to the visuals are so well-chosen it again hits home the point that this is a great example of film being used as a genuine audio-visual medium. The sounds and sights you see are all working harmoniously in order to evoke an experience and I would go as far to say only an experience. There is no attempt at making an intellectual remark but rather to just immerse the audience and for them to delight in what they see and hear.
There is a narrative of sorts but I personally do not feel that it is even important to mention as I believe modern cinema has strayed away from this persistence on story and has grounded itself more in understanding new styles of filmmaking. If I may be so bold, there is amongst many a feeling that cinema has a hierarchy: some films are intellectual thus better & some films are for entertainment and they aren't worth as much. Now, I do not agree nor disagree with this as I think it is incredibly dependent on the means through which the filmmaker attempts to make something entertaining. Noé is not afraid to experiment and so through this adventure he gives to us, it is ultimately incredibly entertaining and fascinating as there are technical devices used which I had never experienced to the extent that Climax has decided to run with them. Things like just shooting the majority of the final section of the film upside down offers us a perspective of faces we are just very unfamiliar with.
Climax shows a film doesn't have to seem as though it is an embodiment of a silent, academics-only library to have great artistic merit, it can be the craziest party ever. Enough complaining about there not being anything good in the cinema anymore; if you look hard enough, there is a whole world out there of filmmakers challenging your expectations of what to see on the cinema screen. Noé is not afraid to play in this game called 'filmmaking'. In an interview for Climax's release he talks about how just like seeing wars reported on the news have become boring, cinema has become the same. We see the same stories, the same characters to the point where it does not spark anything in us - we do not care. Noé is showing to us through Climax that modern cinema does not have to be a constant homage to the old or a focus on adaptation or narrative. It can be its own living and breathing entity, showing two fingers up at what is deemed 'canon' and giving us a film that does not fail to make you hear your heart thud. Through the beautifully composed mixture of sight and sound he develops, Climax is not a film that ever reaches a climax.. it is constantly a climax.
Climax
4-4-3
11/13
- Iman