Climax

 

Gasper Noe and his curious, magnetic, voyeuristic camera once again goes on the prowl, this time documenting a theater dance choreography team assembled in a big rehearsal and staging building as they perform a rambunctious, exciting, explosive set piece and then come apart at the seams when one among them spikes some sangeria punch with a devastating LSD type drug causing a disintegrating mania of all who drink. The film shows them each one having their own peculiar descent into madness, deviancy, violence, emotional distress and hysteria, sort of best described as a type of mass psychosis and hallucinogenic freefalling downward spiral, with sex, anxieties, breakdowns, mutilation, and mental collapse as a result. Noe's camera doesn't always shoot the cast in the format we are accustomed to with other formula filmmaking deciding to even capture all the craziness upside down from the ceiling looking down, following in lockstep behind the likes of Selva and Gazelle or Omar.

Some of this craziness includes a pregnancy being aborted as a crowd begs for it, a child being locked in an electrical room by his mother (the troupe's choreographer, who later slits her wrists when he electrocutes himself), a brother and sister having incest, body knife cutting, urination right on the floor, animal behavior, a coke addict's head catching fire (with her screams heard in the building when elsewhere), and losts of hookups. But most of all the lights alter to dark red among other neon depending on the area of the building, eventually as Noe's camera seems to warp with the behavior.

That opening dance number is quite a knockout as Noe has a lot of moving parts to navigate. Very talented cast with gifted moves and flexible bodies. Noe also takes time to feature interviews of all the cast by Samantha, the choreographer, that goes on a bit long, shown on a television with "Look and see what Noe's influences are!" VHS tapes off to the side and books. Before the spiked punch turns them all  into drugged lunatics, Noe has them talk in different conversations about sex and relationships.

Like with his use of film credits and poetic intertitles, Noe has his pretentious indulgences. He's an acquired taste.