This is the 3rd Noe film I've seen, and like it's earlier films it left me with this bitter, depraving, yet fascinated impression. It's an intense film, stylistically shot, filled with inner dialog of the protagonist all the way through. The interesting part to me is the way the protagonist was like most of the time. A good story doesn't need a likable protagonist. this man is a misogynist, homophobic, racist, aggressive being. Pretty much what goes as not likable in my book, but at the same time I had my moments of pure empathy. That's what art should be about,people being people. And that's the greatest beauty of the film. SPOILER: The ending of the film really stirs it all up pretty well. Where we go from one of his "Taxi Driver esque" fantasies where he kills his daughter and himself, a very shocking film in itself, to a truly heartbreaking scene where he tells how much he loves his daughter. Then I get reminded of the incest part, leaving me off real confused of what to make of it. I will also draw another line with the killing of the baby earlier in the film and fantasies of killing his daughter later in the film. "Living is a selfish act. Surviving is a genetic law."
Review of I Stand Alone
