Holy Motors is no doubt the weirdest movie I have ever seen. There does not seem to be any plot and you never know what is going to happen. At first there was no dialogue and the actions so bizarre, so avant-garde. Fifteen minutes into the opening, it looked so pretentious that I almost wanted to leave after having no clue in where it was leading to.
But considering myself open-minded, I just let the images unfold. Then the pieces began to slowly come together: it is a tribute to the movie as an invention, an art form and an industry.
Originated in France, the Lumiere brothers invented the cinematographe which evolved into silent movies and developed into color before branching off to different genres with all types of special effects and make ups.
So we started to see this guy woke up in the middle of the night, finding himself at the back of a cinema. Episodes after episodes of Mr Oscar (another tribute the movie industry) playing different roles in his various appointments, only to showcase the different forms of art: mime and acrobatics-turned-animation, horror in the graveyard, live music band, action movies in the Chinese warehouse, a gangster movie involving shooting of bankers. Then there were dramatic element with a frustrating father being disappointed with the insecure daughter, and a long lost lover turned into a musical.
While displaying various types of movies, it also showed how Mr Oscar wanted to play different roles in life, before going back to his mundane life at home – a reality where he needed to take a deep breath to go into, however warm it appeared.
Feeling similarly uneasy, his chauffeur, Celine, had to wear a mask when she went back to reality.
While this movie is open to interpretation, mine is that it is a tribute to movies, hence it is called Holy. The cinema, for me, is a sanctuary to escape from reality and step into others' shoes and live a different life for the duration of the voyage on the motor. Mr Oscar just took it to the extreme that he actually acted it out (bravo to his acting and make-up and special effects!). When the day is over, he still had to go home.
Just go and enjoy this as much as you can. If you don't like the unstructured and seemingly disorganized plot, at least you can enjoy the scenery of Paris.
But considering myself open-minded, I just let the images unfold. Then the pieces began to slowly come together: it is a tribute to the movie as an invention, an art form and an industry.
Originated in France, the Lumiere brothers invented the cinematographe which evolved into silent movies and developed into color before branching off to different genres with all types of special effects and make ups.
So we started to see this guy woke up in the middle of the night, finding himself at the back of a cinema. Episodes after episodes of Mr Oscar (another tribute the movie industry) playing different roles in his various appointments, only to showcase the different forms of art: mime and acrobatics-turned-animation, horror in the graveyard, live music band, action movies in the Chinese warehouse, a gangster movie involving shooting of bankers. Then there were dramatic element with a frustrating father being disappointed with the insecure daughter, and a long lost lover turned into a musical.
While displaying various types of movies, it also showed how Mr Oscar wanted to play different roles in life, before going back to his mundane life at home – a reality where he needed to take a deep breath to go into, however warm it appeared.
Feeling similarly uneasy, his chauffeur, Celine, had to wear a mask when she went back to reality.
While this movie is open to interpretation, mine is that it is a tribute to movies, hence it is called Holy. The cinema, for me, is a sanctuary to escape from reality and step into others' shoes and live a different life for the duration of the voyage on the motor. Mr Oscar just took it to the extreme that he actually acted it out (bravo to his acting and make-up and special effects!). When the day is over, he still had to go home.
Just go and enjoy this as much as you can. If you don't like the unstructured and seemingly disorganized plot, at least you can enjoy the scenery of Paris.