Holy Motors gained a lot of attention last year for its ingenuity. Some reviewers couldn’t praise it enough. Though not every critic found it charming, few would argue that Holy Motors is boring or cliche.
Holy Motors acts like a composite film, a la Love Actually, but has an innovative string connecting the stories. Monsieur Oscar is a mystical man with an odd, undecipherable profession. He must make it to 9 “appointments” around Paris during which he dons elaborate makeup and costumes to become eccentric character after eccentric character. These small vignettes punctuated by limo rides take him to a motion capture studio, an abandoned shopping mall, and a photo shoot in a cemetery.
The French film sometimes borders on surrealism, sometimes borrows from magical realism. I wish it incorporated a bit more magic, as it would have given reason to some of the more inexplicable and sullen parts of the film.
I must admit I was expecting a more cheerful movie from how some critics described the film (Manhola Dargis of the New York Times: “A dream of the movies that looks like a movie of dreams.” Stephanie Zacharek of NPR: “It could almost be a film made in a time before language, a rendering of modern life — or modern lives — as a kind of cinematic cave painting.”). The lyrical language of many reviews wooed me, but I found myself a bit lost in the film’s narrative. I was fascinated by the tidbits I was receiving but frustrated at the unanswered questions.
I understand the filmic allegory, that life is performance and performance is life, but I think I appreciate the concept more than the execution (i.e., Kylie Minogue’s nostalgic soliloquy is a tribute to musicals of another era, but the song itself drags and is utterly skippable).
They can’t all be ringing endorsements, and while I may not have felt Holy Motors was a slam dunk, 90% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes believe that it was. If you feel like challenging yourself and opening your mind, give Holy Motors a try. I have to admit, I may not have loved everything, but I’m glad I saw it.
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