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JSh0K chimes in with a take on MARTYRS!
Hey folks, Harry here - this is a film that has reached legendary status amongst festival goers that have seen it. I'm desperate to see it. It sounds astonishing. Can't wait!
Hiya. Long time reader first time reviewer.
After reading Spence's review of Martyrs on the site i thought i would chime in with a slighly different look at it as i was also lucky enough to see this masterpiece at Frightfest this year.
Pascale Laugier's worried about this movie. He was apologising to people who despised it, he was profusely thanking the people who liked it. He is the modern day equivalent of Victor Frankenstein. He knows that he has created a monster and doesn't really know how to deal with it now that it's being released upon the world.
Martyrs truly is a monster. It's a ground breaking, brave, stunning, brutal & moving piece of work that is guaranteed to divide audiences everywhere it gets the chance to play. Even at a genre event like Frightfest the audience reaction ranged from 'loved it' to 'hated it' to people actually going outside of the cinema to be physically sick (really). For me it was the highlight of the festival and i absolutely loved it but I don't believe it's a movie that anybody will truly 'enjoy'.
As others have already given away too much of the story i won't bother with a synopsis as Martyr's is definately a dish best served cold. Not knowing what to expect makes this a refreshingly shocking piece of celluloid that will hopefully astound you with it's gutsy originality. Written by the director during a fit of depression (that he did not elaborate on in the Q&A) it is an almost schizoprenic movie with two distinct halves and coda of such ambiguity that it is possible to view it as nihilistic or strangely hopeful. It's beautifully shot, really well paced and contains outstanding performances from the two female leads.
This movie is inevitably going to be compared to Hostel and other movies in the horribly monickered 'torture-porn' genre and that is a genuine mistake. Martyrs bears more resemblence to movies like Nacho Cerda's Aftermath as there is nothing here that is designed to be titillating. The true horror lies in the the clinical detachment of the antagonists. In the end, despite all the onscreen violence (and there are some truly brutal scenes on display here in the movies second act) the prevaling reaction that this movie elicited in me was not one of revulsion but one of true sadness. Martyrs really is a truly brilliant, surprisingly moving film and one that will remain in my mind, jostling for attention with my other thoughts for a very long time to come. Thankyou Pascale Laugier for creating a monster that i love...
if you use this call me JSh0k
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Have you seen The Orphanage yet? Or [Rec]? Or way back, Amenabar's Tesis, which gave birth to the movement? Seriously, Spanish horror is in rude, rude health.
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Have you got an Aunt Beru as well?That'd be the tits!
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And there are a lot of people saying that MARTYRS is even BETTER.
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Yeh it has by the looks of it funny the one talkback of hers where people cant even be bothered to hate on her but would rather talk about some loony with a penchant for wolf howling
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...a brief synopsis. I read this entire article and just feel like I've been hyped, but not actually given any information.
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read spences review on this site if you want to spoil it... it really is so good and surprisingly different that you don't want to know anything about it before going in...
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nothing else matters
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I hate torture porn like this, but I am always curious specifically why they are so uncomfortable to watch. By that I mean, what specifically in this movie is going on that makes the last part so hard to sit through? I will never see this movie, but I'm morbidly curious.
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Not only gory but good suspense and atmosphere as well. But whoever said Frontier(s) is good is wrong. That movie literally put me to sleep.
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In any sort of wide release? The biggest city in decent driving range for me is Albany, NY, and they don't exactly get all the small releases.
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Spoilers below!!!! It's about old people torturing young people on the theory that they eventually see "the other side" (a.k.a life after death) when they are just about to die. Hence, they are marytrs (unwillingly, of course.)
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Two reviews and I'm already totally pumped.
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they could have done a killer story like this without all the bullshit torture porn aspects. But hey, the french seem to get off on that shit. Go figure.
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Just looked on IMDB and didn't find anything about a release in the US, anyone got any info on that?
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As far as the exact methods of torture, one girl is totally skinned except for her face. She whispers about the other side to some old lady and then the old lady kills herself. End of movie.
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Honestly, there is no cinematic value in watching people be tortured. But, free speech and all...
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...Despite being burned by most of the massively hyped french horror flicks of recent years. Inside being a particuarly crappy film. Comparrison to Aftermath? Thats an enjoyably quirky and most importantly pretty short.
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...The french wave of horror is more exciting because its alot more transgressive than the spanish wave. However, I'd say generally the Spanish flicks are of higher quality, REC being especially good. But I keep going back to the french more eagerly, simply because it promises something unique. Shame it only delivers in fits and starts.
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MARTYRS is definitely pulling my attention... who doesn't crave films that push the envelope? But this makes me hark back to the days of recent past. I saw IRREVERSIBLE for a college course a few years back. Quasi-SPOILER warning: Needless to say it spared no expense when it came down to the eye-opening benchmarks of the film. I appreciated Gaspar Noe's vision, but the years had went on, and with age comes knowledge and understanding, specifically opinions of perhaps increasing precision... and the more I thought about it, the more I saw Irreversible as a 'shock-vehicle' - its final product's purpose culminating into something gearing towards heavy shock and awe, nothing more. It was too experimental and too blatant about societal extremes that are already understood for their inherently taboo/grisly nature. It was visually enticing and pretty gripping in pace, but cinematography is highlighted by a strong story arc that is IMO diluted with a static rape sequence and face-crushing. At least Pan's Labyrinth was able to have both narrative and facial deflowering to coexist, quite harmoniously if I may add. But if the film's purpose is to be absolute, to 'divide its audience', then Martyrs best sell itself to the U.S. sooner than later because I really hate waiting for these things.
- GS -
If I remember [FX SPOILER ALERT], they used CG for that sequence. Much like [SPOILER 2] during the rape sequence when the pimp's genitalia is equally CG'd. And quite believably as well. Believe me I didn't think twice about animatronics. So if you could imagine, the real takes on the face crushing scene had the prop at half-value, meaning a prop resembling half the extinguisher was used to give room to 'smash' the life out of the actor. - GS
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Saw it yesterday, in Paris (the movie was released in France last wenesday).
It's brutal, it's hardcore, it's moving, it's sad, it's ugly, it's beautiful... Fuck, I really don't know what to think about it, I was shocked, but in a good way, just like the time I saw Irreversible for the 1st time.
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