Review of Irreversible (2002) by Mark D — 22 Jan 2012

Man, this was a tough movie to watch. I just rented it because I read it was like Memento, and Memento is one of my favorite movies. It plays backwards. It even starts with the credits. You go from the final scene to the beginning scene, slowly finding out the hows and whys of the final scenes. I like the technique, and it's pretty well done here, but some of these scenes are BRUTAL. I have to warn anyone who would see this that there is a rape/beating scene that will haunt you. To top it off, it goes on way longer than is necessary to get the point across. It's like the director was trying to imprint it on my head. He was successful, as it really bothered me. It bothers me because I know that somewhere out in the world a scene very much like this has taken place, and I simply can't fathom it. As naive as it sounds, I just can't believe that any human being could treat another human being like this. It's just so sad.

One thing positive this movie did for was remind me how freakin' gorgeous Monica Belluci is. If you don't know who she is, you need to fix that asap. She is absolutely radiant in this. I never even use that word, but for her I make an exception. To top it off, she's a darn good actress as well.

In the end, I thought it actually was a pretty good movie, but it left me both frustrated and saddened.