Cheap I Stand Alone [Region 2] (DVD) (Gaspar Noé) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of I Stand Alone [Region 2]

Movies don't get much more disturbing than this
As this story unravels, it shows a flurry of clips that give you a quick understanding of the main character's entire life. He was a struggling butcher that made a tragic mistake and went to prison. This scene is actually a recap of the director Gaspar Noe's previous film, a 40-minute shocker that won him some awards. This story pretty much begins with his release from jail.<
>This disturbing movie also has some common elements with Noe's following film, Irreversible. Besides the graphic sexual content, there is an overbearing sense of despair, revenge, and rage. Another tie-in I noticed with Irreversible is the infamous tunnel. Yes, THAT tunnel. It looked exactly the same to me anyway. The butcher walks with his young daughter down that evil passageway, which made me uneasy the entire trip. <
>I Stand Alone unmercifully traps the viewer inside the mind of this jobless butcher. All of his random thoughts are constantly strewn forth, which is both brutally captivating and just flat-out appalling. He spirals further and further into his lonely and depressing world, and it's clearly evident that some sort of catastrophe is inevitable.<
>There's even a scene late in the movie where the viewer is warned to leave the room, turn off the TV, do something besides watch what is about to happen(A 30 second timer actually starts ticking). Of course at this point it was impossible for me to turn back, but many viewers probably won't want to even make it that far. <
>So understand, THIS IS NOT A HAPPY MOVIE!! Many people will not recover from watching it. So I'd think twice before watching this one, unless you are as demented as me. You're welcome. <
>

---

Go Inside the Mind of an Ordinary Man Driven Nearly Mad by Circumstances and See what He Thinks
[[ASIN:B00005K9O8 I Stand Alone]]<
><
><
><
>Gaspar Noe's SEUL CONTRE TOUT is a cinematic masterwork. Though this film is clearly not for the faint-hearted, it offers those willing to go where it takes them into a stark, ultra-violent, ultra-real world where truth is painful, but is a kind of truth that perhaps we need to hear and see. With exceptional mastery, Noe's style of film-making literally explodes in each frame of I STAND ALONE. The 16 mm, anamorphic vision is punctuated by gunshot sounds and quick, hard jumps into close-up shots. Violence, it seems, underlies each scene, but it is repressed. This leads us to feel tension of an unparalleled kind, and we wonder when this violence might explode. The film is 85 minutes of character study of one man, the Butcher, whose unedited, uncensored thoughts are put forth without pomp or circumstance. The Butcher's thoughts are the entire crux of the film and are exposed in long internal monologues. The thoughts we are allowed to "overhear" are disturbing, no doubt, but some, though not all, of these thoughts are similar to those we might have actually had at one time or another. This is troubling because no one wants to admit that they have these kinds of ideas. What is even more troubling is that we find ourselves compelled to see where all these repressed thoughts of loathing and hate lead to. We know it will be harsh, but we want to see it just the same. If you're looking for easy answers and simple truths sugarcoated for your pleasure, this is not a film for you. If, however, you're looking to see an original film that thrusts itself deep into your psyche and asks you hard questions without giving you the answers, you need to see this. <
><
>

---

Not What I Expected...
Maybe I'm jaded, I have seen a few "extreme" films, though I have been powerfully affected by more than a few (usually NOT the most violent or goriest). I did not find this film particularly shocking. Yes, the XXX clip is graphic for non-porn film --think Human Anatomy 101, and the final violent "fantasy" sequence is prolonged to the point of discomfort.<
> <
>Still, those looking to see the envelope pushed will be disappointed. This is not "Ichi the Killer" or "The Devil's Rejects".<
><
>In fact, all the hype about how "shocking" this film is obscured the fact that the main character is well-drawn, wonderfully portrayed and though he's full of rage and violence, it's hard not to pity the dumb brute as he bludgeons his way hopelessly through the bleak slums like an enraged, tormented bull, soon to be put out of its misery . This film is ultimately a tragic character study. It is mature and thoughful.<
><
>The butcher is definitely not a sympathetic character, but like Keitel's cop in the Bad Lieutenant, he is doomed, trapped by his self-hatred and misanthropy. The Butcher's "redemption" is as twisted and illusory as his values. Like a Kafka character, he is lost in a world that he cannot understand or control.<
><
>It's a great, bleak look at alienation in Western society. If that appeals to you see it!!!<
>If you want action, over-the-top-violence or some sort of neat Hollywood moral or resolution, avoid this film.