I was predisposed to like this one when I saw Bilal's name on it, but I found I had to work really hard to keep my impatience and irritation at bay while I was watching. It's not a "comfortable" film by any means.
Enkai Bilal is an amazing artist (I'm still haunted by two of his graphic novels decades after first reading them), but his storytelling sensibilities probably aren't a good match for a mainstream American audiences. There's a glumness, a theme of empires ending and decadent and collapsing civilizations running through his work, and a lot of people, even fans of science fiction, fantasy, and foreign art films, might find the way he portrays the human condition hard to accept. He also likes to just throw in weird touches and flourishes here and there in his work without ever explaining their background or back story, so in spots you have to deal with too much distracting detail and no clue as to what is important.
In other words,"Immortel" doesn't do a very good job of explaining itself to the viewer, especially someone who isn't familiar with Bilal's work. Customs, cultures, technology, god avatars, poetry, sex, espionage, intrigue and religion...all seem to occupy the same mental space in this movie, and you can't really tell where the power lies and who are the good guys or the bad guys for a vast chunk of it. The only way for most viewers to enjoy it is to sit back and let it wash over him - and to suspend judgment over some of the less convincing CGI responsible for some of the mutant and alien faces. They looked like something Bilal would do, but they needed extra texture and shading to convince the eye in a live movie.
The two romantic leads seem to relate to each other in a really weird way, and I'm not sure if that's because their characters are "human" only by the most flexible interpretations of the term....or if it's because what works in the airless, self contained medium of a comics page doesn't work as well in a movie as Bilal might have hoped. And it's also possible that Bilal isn't capable of (or interested in) portraying of "normal" human relationships outside of a fantasy context This was a common weakness of most of the contributors to "Metal Hurlant/'Heavy Metal" back in the 80's where creators like Belal, Moebius and others made their American debut. (Well, with Moebius it may have been a strength, given the detached, almost jocular feel of "Airtight Garage").
But they are interesting looking people who seem haunted and stressed by histories and problems we can only begin to guess, and I found myself rooting for them and their relationship after a while.
Worth watching in spite of its lapses and clunkier moments. Plus several stars for having the guts to be unabashedly weird and kinky and unsettling, but minus almost as many for the aforementioned clunkers and an indifferent English dub. I'm still glad I got to see it.
Enkai Bilal is an amazing artist (I'm still haunted by two of his graphic novels decades after first reading them), but his storytelling sensibilities probably aren't a good match for a mainstream American audiences. There's a glumness, a theme of empires ending and decadent and collapsing civilizations running through his work, and a lot of people, even fans of science fiction, fantasy, and foreign art films, might find the way he portrays the human condition hard to accept. He also likes to just throw in weird touches and flourishes here and there in his work without ever explaining their background or back story, so in spots you have to deal with too much distracting detail and no clue as to what is important.
In other words,"Immortel" doesn't do a very good job of explaining itself to the viewer, especially someone who isn't familiar with Bilal's work. Customs, cultures, technology, god avatars, poetry, sex, espionage, intrigue and religion...all seem to occupy the same mental space in this movie, and you can't really tell where the power lies and who are the good guys or the bad guys for a vast chunk of it. The only way for most viewers to enjoy it is to sit back and let it wash over him - and to suspend judgment over some of the less convincing CGI responsible for some of the mutant and alien faces. They looked like something Bilal would do, but they needed extra texture and shading to convince the eye in a live movie.
The two romantic leads seem to relate to each other in a really weird way, and I'm not sure if that's because their characters are "human" only by the most flexible interpretations of the term....or if it's because what works in the airless, self contained medium of a comics page doesn't work as well in a movie as Bilal might have hoped. And it's also possible that Bilal isn't capable of (or interested in) portraying of "normal" human relationships outside of a fantasy context This was a common weakness of most of the contributors to "Metal Hurlant/'Heavy Metal" back in the 80's where creators like Belal, Moebius and others made their American debut. (Well, with Moebius it may have been a strength, given the detached, almost jocular feel of "Airtight Garage").
But they are interesting looking people who seem haunted and stressed by histories and problems we can only begin to guess, and I found myself rooting for them and their relationship after a while.
Worth watching in spite of its lapses and clunkier moments. Plus several stars for having the guts to be unabashedly weird and kinky and unsettling, but minus almost as many for the aforementioned clunkers and an indifferent English dub. I'm still glad I got to see it.