Review of Irreversible (2002) by Jens M — 28 Aug 2009

Much like Happiness I think Irreversible is the same kinda film that it would be hard to recommend. You can come to admire and respect the film-making techniques of this movie but I think it'll either offend or disgust many that you don't want to be the person responsible for their walkouts and hatred of the images they'll be seeing on screen. So be warned, this movie is not the kind of movie you should bring your family to see and it is definitely the "anti-first-date" movie.

Irreversible is indeed a powerful movie but also profoundly 'ugly' - one you'll have trouble in watching it the first time let alone a repeated viewing.

The storytelling style is very much similar to Memento but the similarities stops there.

It does have two most unrelenting scenes you'll ever see in film history. But to get through to those scenes, viewers must put up with a jolting hand-held camera scene that rivals The Blair Witch Project for most nauseating in recent memory. It only last for the first 20 minutes or so though and the technique does have motif and becomes very effective in showcasing our protagonist's rage.