I’m one of the money that lacked the balls to review Holy Motors immediately after seeing it a single time, as it’s one of those movies that largely transcends typical criticism. It’s a movie playing on a much different level- not necessarily a higher one, but a different one to be sure.
The best I can do is to put your expectations in the sphere of one of Matthew Barney’s Cremaster films or –since those have been seen by almost no one– somewhere near a Gaspar Noe picture without all the draining cynicism and fixation on ugliness. Holy Motors is a beautiful, touching, often heartsick but always joyous exercise of cinema that examines performance, cinematic form, and the truth found in artifice. I can’t recommend it highly enough, and I’m pleased the trailer works in a lot of those gears without trying too hard to quantify or label the film. Take a look…
There are also two clips from the film that you can watch, though they’re not really going to give you a better idea about it. These moments work contextually, and in a film that is not constrained by a standard narrative, it’s hard to get a grasp on what’s going on with these kind of clips. Still getting a tease of Kylie Minogue’s beautiful song is certainly not a bad thing.
The film is in some theaters now and heading for more, so check out the website to see if there’s any place you can catch it. I guarantee it’s worth any and all effort you’d have to put forward to do so.