DVD Review: I Stand Alone
I Stand Alone (2001)
Studio: Strand Releasing
DVD Release Date: December 2, 2008
Directed By: Gaspar Noé
Cast: Philippe Nahon, Blandine Lenoir, Frankye Pain, Martine Audrain
Brutal As Hell Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars
Review By: Marc Patterson
Go ahead and call me an art house whore because, admittedly that’s what I am. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t appreciate mindless slasher films and the lot, because I do. Slasher films and zombie flicks are among my favorite in the horror genre. But, I’m a born sucker for any filmmaker that treats cinema as a true artistic medium. I firmly believe film to be the ultimate artistic medium. Where else can you combine visual art with sound, movement, and literature? This makes modern cinema the perfect canvas. If only the “business” of making films didn’t interfere so much. But as usual, I’ve gone off in the wrong direction. This is a review of a lesser known French film from the talented director Gaspar Noé (Irreversible).
In this film, shot before the more popular Irreversible, Gasper Noe takes a stab at his French culture, and the politics of France under the guise of a craftfully constructed story about a man known to us simply as “The Butcher”. The film is subtitled “The tragedy of the jobless butcher struggling to survive in the bowels of his nation” a somber and dark look at life through the eyes of a man living on the edge. The Butcher (Philippe Nahon) has lived a tragic life, and is tumbling through a depressing downward spiral of a life that takes him deeper and deeper into his own personal hell and self-destruction.The introduction of the film gives us a linear biography of The Butcher’s life which leads us up to the proper beginning of the film. The Butcher is a hardworking blue-collared man who hasn’t been given much in his life, and has done everything he can to raise his mentally ill daughter on his own. When The Butcher suspects a fellow butcher of molesting his daughter he takes immediate and hasty action by stabbing the man in the face. The man survives and the Butcher goes to jail, while his daughter goes to an institution. The Butcher is eventually released from prison and meets a woman bartender. The two fall in love. The mistress sells her bar and the two of them move to Lille so that The Butcher can start his life anew, by opening his own shop. However, it turns out that his mistress lied and doesn’t have the funding for his shop. Worse she has become pregnant by him. Reaching a boiling point The Butcher erupts into a violent rage, attacks both his mother-in-law and wife, and quickly leaves Lille to return to Paris in order to avoid the law and find his daughter.
The cinematography is everything that we have come to expect from Noe. Stark, bleak, and depressing. Though the use of color gives a warm hue, the deprecated settings that are shot make a muted and dismal palate. To heighten our viewing experience Noe moves the camera quickly, always searching zooming. The sound compliments the action jarring us with sharp staccato gunshots with every transition. At the climax of the film everything comes to a stop and we are given a written warning of what is about to come, complete with 30 seconds to stop the film so we don’t have to see what comes next. Brilliant.
Despite the obvious artistic efforts I Stand Alone was a depressing film! Damn, I wanted to go out and do some bad shit after sitting through these 93 minutes. Director Gasper Noé has no critics when it comes to his absolute ability to depict the grittiest and dark side of humanity. It’s rare when a critic is given the ability to come out and say this, but time and again Noé proves himself to be a true cinematic artist. His films aren’t palatable, and not everyone is going to love them, but true art challenges the audience and doesn’t worry about marketability or Oscars. If you want feel good highly marketable art, go to a Blue Man Group show. Those latex freaks will make you provide some brain dead entertainment that will leave you grinning all night long.
The brilliancy of the film is that Noe doesn’t drown himself in subtext unique to his French culture. There is a universal recognition of the issues highlighted here. Social inequality, poverty breeding violence, racism, self-loathing for simply being alive, are all highlighted here with the skill of… well, the skill of a butcher. Our character has nothing but hatred for the world and everyone around him, which ultimately reflects upon his deep hatred of himself. There’s some powerful and shocking stuff going on here that’s going to either impress or repulse you. Possibly do both.
Folks, I had no choice to review the film like this because frankly, this isn’t an entertaining piece. I would have loved to sit here and provided you with humorous anecdotes, and tongue in cheek humor, but the best I can provide is some cynical sarcasm and deep insights. The film comes highly recommended to fans of dark artsy cinema, and to those who are looking to experience something a bit off the beaten path.
