Review of Holy Motors (2012) by Anna K — 13 Apr 2013

This movie investigates what it means for a film to be self-aware of itself as a film. In this sense, it is a perfectly modernist film. Whenever you think you've gotten behind a scene to the truth, when you think you've gotten to what's really real and not a role, you realize (and maybe shudder) that you are actually just watching another role being played out.

The movie asks us to think about what it means that we are watching a FILM, even when we don't want to. We are continuously prevented (sometimes violently) from falling into realist assumptions about the characters and plot.

Specifically, the film raises many questions concerning the characters: when is the main character properly acting, and when do we see him as he really is, behind his actings? I think the take away point is that there is no character behind his actions.