Enter the Void

R18

2009

162 mins

Directed by Gaspar Noé
73%
72%
Drama
Fantasy

Labelled a “psychedelic melodrama” by its director, cinematic troublemaker Gaspar Noé (Irreversible), Enter the Void follows a young drug dealer... More

Labelled a “psychedelic melodrama” by its director, cinematic troublemaker Gaspar Noé (Irreversible), Enter the Void follows a young drug dealer through a neon Tokyo and transcendent experiences both before and after his death.

Shot in a first-person perspective, Enter the Void unfolds over the shoulder of Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) and through his eyes as he navigates the seedy side of Tokyo. Oscar has intense drug experiences on DMT and travels through time and space after being shot by police, inspired by the teachings of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Still possessing a strong bond to his sister (Paz de la Huerta) after his ignoble shooting in a bathroom stall, Oscar relives their shared memories and watches over her from high above a trippy Tokyo as his soul embarks on his final journey.

Dividing critics and audiences, Enter the Void’s running time had to be reduced in the U.S. for contractual reasons. Noé’s solution was to simply remove a whole reel of film (around 17 minutes), saying none of this material was necessary for the film.

Less

Where to watch Enter the Void

Enter the Void is available to stream in New Zealand... More now on AroVision.

There is no screening information for this title.

Enter the Void | Ratings & Reviews

73_%97 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes® rating
72_%14,556 reviews
Audience score rating

"Not clever enough to be truly pretentious, Noe's tiresomely gimmicky film... proves to be the ne plus ultra of nothing much."

—

Variety

"Beyond the daft comparisons with 2001, this is a mature film from a director who's morphing from eye-rolling agitator into eye-catching artist."

—

Total Film

"A strong contender for both the artiest drug movie and the druggiest art movie ever made."

—

Time Out

"[Noe is] using pure cinema and not just cheap exploitation tricks to make an impact."

—

The New York Times

"This is a grandiose hallucinatory journey into, and out of, hell: drugged, neon-lit and with a fully realised nightmare-porn aesthetic that has to be seen to be believed."

—