Holy Motors
2025-08-03
Vancouver, BC

I really don't know how to put words to this — as a series of loosely interwoven vignettes, there's a lot to soak in here. The fact that it all takes place in one day and night is the only thing grounding this, otherwise I feel like it would have launched itself into some other dimension. A lot of it is a real visual treat, with a nice European urban sheen to it, especially as the night settles in. This is the first film I've seen with Denis Lavant, and he ate it up. But ultimately, I don't think it's worth stressing over to extract a higher level takeaway here, because I don't really think there is one — sometimes you just have to absorb the vibes, vibes of all different flavours. In trying to make sense of the opening scene at the movies, maybe there's an overarching idea here about becoming the content you watch, but as they say, it's all "in the eye of the beholder".

Watched at the VIFF Centre. Part of their 21st Century Classics programming — I tried to pick the most sicko of the lot, I think I won there.