Holy Motors

Anything goes in Leos Carax's film centering on Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant), who is driven around in a white stretch limo through the night, being given “assignments” that oblige him to dress up in various guises, mostly for street-theatre scenes but also (apparently) mock movies. Not much point in enumerating all of the dozen or so episodes, but one involves Oscar's putting on a “motion-capture” suit and engaging in an action scene with a machine gun, followed by a steamy sexual encounter, while in another, he's a grotesque sewer-dweller who, after biting off the fingers of a photographer's assistant, kidnaps the gorgeous model appearing in the shoot and takes her to his lair, where he dresses her in a burka and then strips and lies on her lap (among other things). None of this makes literal sense, of course, as the movie is structured as a sort of dream with a running theme—namely, the fear of death and the impersonality of the modern world. However, while it initially feels innovative, the rampant surrealism in Holy Motors eventually starts to seem both banal and random. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “Drive In” making-of featurette (48 min.), an interview with costar Kylie Minogue (13 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)