One name I've been hearing about lately in the world of film is Gasper Noe. Many people have been calling his films the most disturbing pieces of work they ever saw and he is one of the most walked out directors of all time. I've seen disturbing film, but with all the hype surrounding his films, I just had to see them. It's interesting that Gasper Noe says that Stanley Kurbrick was his inspiration, because I Stand Alone is very much like Taxi Driver, more like it's long lost brother. A man who is so resentful of the world, had the bad hand dealt to him and of course wants to deal it back to anyone. While I think we need dark movies in cinema to balance out all the "
happily ever after" endings, this one was very bland and only stayed on one street. Where Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver had more people who could understand his position and where he is coming from, The Butcher from I Stand Alone starts off hateful and never stops. The film is an hour and a half of his hateful words and some violent scenes. I don't mind dark themes at all, but I Stand Alone seemed pointless and didn't have a proper closure.
Orphaned at a young age and subsequently abused by a priest, The Butcher opens a butcher shop and fathers an autistic daughter with a woman who leaves him because it isn't a boy. On the day of her first period, he sees blood on her skirt and stabs an innocent man who he thinks raped her. He is sentenced to prison and forced to sell his butcher shop to a Muslim, and his daughter is put in an institution. He gets a job working for a woman who owns the tavern he used to be drink in. She seduces him, and she becomes pregnant. She sells her business and moves to northern France with him, promising to purchase a butcher shop. The Butcher hates his life with his overbearing, overweight mistress. She backs out of her promise to open a butcher shop, forcing him to take a night watchman job at a nursing home. He snaps and punches his mistress in the belly several times, then steals a pistol and flees. The Butcher determines to feel no guilt and return to Paris to find his daughter and try to survive the bowels of France.
I Stand Alone did have a strong lead role with Philippe Nahon as the Butcher, he manages to carry the movie well and really becomes his character. He almost had me thinking what he's like in real life, how could someone take a role like this and not become him? As for the hype around this film on how violent it is, it honestly wasn't as bad as I was expecting. While it's certainly nothing to watch for someone with a weak stomach, there is a moment where the director gives you 30 seconds to stop watching the film because of the ending. The ending is disturbing, but the way I was expecting was like it was going to be the king of twisted movies, let's just put it this way, I've seen much worse. But one of the things I did appreciate from Noe is his film style, he has a way of making the audience feel uncomfortable, he knows that this film is not going to be easy on the viewer and he doesn't want it to be, he does these sudden camera movements and loud thumps that keeps you very alert. Knowing that at any moment The Butcher is about to loose his mind and conscience, makes you keep your eye on the screen at all times. I don't think that I Stand Alone had a message, it doesn't stand out to me as anything more than a man who is angry with the world and wants it to rot. I admire Gasper Noe's edginess and he's fearless when it comes to putting the truth on screen, but for this movie, it just didn't seem that special to me.
6/10
Orphaned at a young age and subsequently abused by a priest, The Butcher opens a butcher shop and fathers an autistic daughter with a woman who leaves him because it isn't a boy. On the day of her first period, he sees blood on her skirt and stabs an innocent man who he thinks raped her. He is sentenced to prison and forced to sell his butcher shop to a Muslim, and his daughter is put in an institution. He gets a job working for a woman who owns the tavern he used to be drink in. She seduces him, and she becomes pregnant. She sells her business and moves to northern France with him, promising to purchase a butcher shop. The Butcher hates his life with his overbearing, overweight mistress. She backs out of her promise to open a butcher shop, forcing him to take a night watchman job at a nursing home. He snaps and punches his mistress in the belly several times, then steals a pistol and flees. The Butcher determines to feel no guilt and return to Paris to find his daughter and try to survive the bowels of France.
I Stand Alone did have a strong lead role with Philippe Nahon as the Butcher, he manages to carry the movie well and really becomes his character. He almost had me thinking what he's like in real life, how could someone take a role like this and not become him? As for the hype around this film on how violent it is, it honestly wasn't as bad as I was expecting. While it's certainly nothing to watch for someone with a weak stomach, there is a moment where the director gives you 30 seconds to stop watching the film because of the ending. The ending is disturbing, but the way I was expecting was like it was going to be the king of twisted movies, let's just put it this way, I've seen much worse. But one of the things I did appreciate from Noe is his film style, he has a way of making the audience feel uncomfortable, he knows that this film is not going to be easy on the viewer and he doesn't want it to be, he does these sudden camera movements and loud thumps that keeps you very alert. Knowing that at any moment The Butcher is about to loose his mind and conscience, makes you keep your eye on the screen at all times. I don't think that I Stand Alone had a message, it doesn't stand out to me as anything more than a man who is angry with the world and wants it to rot. I admire Gasper Noe's edginess and he's fearless when it comes to putting the truth on screen, but for this movie, it just didn't seem that special to me.
6/10