Climax

To those uninitiated into the cinematic world of Gaspar Noe, his work can either be a test of endurance or merely try ones patience while straining for a gratifying pay off. With his fifth film, this approach has not altered, but the pay off might just be what you expect from such a simple synopsis as Climax possesses.A dance troupe gather together for rehearsals on a cold winter’s night and end up drinking a sangria punch spiked with LSD.It’s as simple as that, but the results are rewarding depending on the strength of your nerve and whether you can let yourself be willingly taken into a downward spiral of chaos, madness, hedonism, violence, cruelty, anguish, panic and other distressed emotional states. While you traverse through those elements you can also use your skills of detection in determining who was responsible for setting in motion the events that engulf the characters.It takes it’s time at first, easing in and letting you get to know the various personalities, but when it kicks into gear, the leash is taken off and it’s allowed to run riot. Some will be entranced, while others bored beyond belief. What some may call pretentious, others will regard as a masterpiece. But one thing that cannot be denied is the commitment and integrity of Noe’s vision of man made hell. I personally relished it. I am not a great fan of dancing and dancers generally, so I was surprised that not only did I enjoy the dance scenes but also once the dancing ended and the descent began, I felt a great deal of empathy for some of the characters and their respective fates. Some were quite heartbreaking, and others made me feel anger, fear and pity for them.The soundtrack helped keep the momentum going with flourish, as did the camera work, cinematography and the performances of the cast. The whole experience was one that stayed with me long after I had watched it. It hasn’t the extremes of Noe’s ‘Irreversible’ but is still powerful enough to evoke a response, and thankfully it refrains from being a ponderous experience like the visually enticing ‘Enter The Void’ and the underwhelming ‘Love’. Instead, this is may very well be Noe’s best film experience to date, combining his visual flair, a great soundtrack and a cast willing to go the lengths that he demands for his vision.The Blu ray has plenty of extras that are more than worth watching, and provide insights into the making of the film and the soundtrack. Additionally there is an audio commentary by Noe himself, as well a documentary on his films, music videos and more.All in all a great package from Arrow, so if you are new to Noe this is a good place to start. For those familiar, this release is a treat to be treasured.

I saw this at the cinema, i thought it was great. Proper old school horror in some ways.. theres always the part in classic horrors where the zombies break into the pub/house/ shopping centre and its absolute mayhem for about 10 mins... but in this film its crazy dancing and camera & lighting work which was very effective in conveying a world turned upside down and inside out. Im not a film buff and i dont know Gaspars work at all, but i enjoyed this film. The soundtrack is great... and Oh! that dancing was electrifying.. wow!

The film is structured in two parts. The first with beautiful choreographed dance scenes and music with characters introductions. The second part is a welcome to a psychotic world where only Gaspar Noé with his dramatic sense and odd camera angles deliver in realistic fashion what drug-induced psychosis provide. As usually with all his films, they are un-classifiable and need to be experienced.

Horrendously tedious and rather confusing narrative. Didn't enjoy it one little bit. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. Offering up a one star review is really a gift to the film.Irreversible is quite possibly the only decent if infamous film from this director.

I really can’t be bothered to write a lengthy review about this as so many others have, all I’ll say is I really enjoyed this piece of work and would say it’s my favourite Gaspar Noe picture to date, don’t be shy give it a try and draw your own conclusions, compared to his other pictures I found this a walk in the park, not too long and drawn out, Dancing is amazing too.

I don't know, I'd say maybe a three star film but my goodness if the dancing scenes aren't five star dancing scenes!! Theres a lot of insidious creeping unease and descending into chaos and drugs and shagging going on, but if this film had just been about a bunch of dancers dancing really well and having a lovely party to celebrate their dancing I personally would have preferred it.

Generally liked the flowing nature of the film but as the night descended it reminded me of a bad night out that never wants to end and all you want is to crawl back home and get into your own bed. So this brought back some distant memories of 2:30am trying to get a taxi whilst surrounded by drunkards. Didn't really care for that.

The first half of the movie is great. The beginning, the interviews, the beautiful dancing scene, the hilarious sex chatter between the male dancers (I thought it was so true to life), that's great cinematography, nothing less.Then things start to go south. What a waste. 2 + 1/2 stars.