Holy Motors (2012), Leos Carax
- IMDB.COM: Rating: 7.0 (15,000+ votes); Metascore: 84 (30+ critics)
- ROTTEN TOMATOES: Tomatometer: 90% (121-134)
- TOP7 NEWSPAPERS: 88 AVG, two 4-star reviews: L. Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly; R. Corliss, TIME
Every once in a while, there comes an European film that leaves us absolutely overwhelmed. We can’t take our eyes off of it and from time to time we even murmur in our chins, ”Now, that’s what the European cinema is all about”, while we simulta- neously nod our heads, approving our own half-spoken truths. In 2011, every true cineaste has murmured some form of that same text while watching at least one of the Old Continent’s instant classics such as Tarr’s The Turin Horse, Von Trier’s Me- lancholia and Ceylan’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia indisputably are. In 2012, Leos Carax, the avant-garde French director of such films as The Night Is Young and The Lovers of the Bridge made sure that the tradition of great European films lives on and through him. In his latest work, Dennis Lavant (Beau Travail) – an actor with whom he collaborated in all of his pro- jects – recreates one day in life of a movie star. Though at first glance the story may strike you as surreal or artsy, it is actually as intimate a portrayal of a professional who wears many masks with gusto but leaves his own hidden in disgust as there is out there. Every Lavant’s day is a mash of different pieces on the stage that means life, every moment goes by with imperso- nation, every flinch with mimicry of someone else’s behaviorist treats. We cannot separate him from his robes, simply be- cause then we are left with nothing – a great actor is his acting. Critics from Film Comment were bold enough to call Holy Motors the film of the year. I might not go that far – not because I don’t think Carax’s film could not wear a crown on it’s head, for it could, and with great deal of zest, as a matter of fact – but I declare it my Top 3 for the 2012 a four-star must-see gem.
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