Enter The Void

[kaos.underwave]

Couldnt help feeling it misrepresented both DMT and the tibetan book of the dead. The people who turned me on to it seemed to think the book of the dead was about finding a new (physical) body when you die, and that a dmt experience was like dying.

 

[Doodazzle]

I would have hated the film much less if they had left dmt out of it.

It has a Doom Generation meets Requiem for a Dream style...both dark films that I appreciate and respect artisticly, but that I did not enjoy at all.

This has got to be the worst publicity dmt has ever gotten anywhere. Worse than face eaters, worse than hipster magazines, just worse than anything you can name. I'm done! I feel like an old christian woman, complaining about sexually suggestive stuff on tv.

 

[olympus mon]

This has got to be the worst publicity dmt has ever gotten anywhere. Worse than face eaters, worse than hipster magazines, just worse than anything you can name. I'm done! I feel like an old christian woman, complaining about sexually suggestive stuff on tv.

Although I concede that I have mixed feelings about the movie I dont see how it was bad publicity for dmt. Dmt had nothing to do with the plot or story really. From my memory what the main character sold to his friend that sold him out to the cops who then shot him in a pretty tragic well done scene was not Dmt. I could be wrong. I have watched it a few times since it was 1 of 5 movies I had on my lap top while traveling.

For me the incestuous over tones were far creepier and disturbing. The movie was weird. I watched it for the first time while in Peru before an aya ceremony and it was a dark creepy night for me. Wonder why. A 2 hour movies of watching people fall to pieces and freak the F$%k out in utter despair...not the best thing to see before drinking Aya.:shock:

The dmt visuals in that movie were pretty damn cool but the timing of the morphing was sporadic and didn't look right to me. But koodoos to the graphics creator.

 

[Psyren]

I think Enter the void and Blueberry did the best job at trying to capture the experience but then how can anyone really accurately portray a psychedelic experience on film? I say kudos to anyone who tries.

 

[daedaloops]

I would have hated the film much less if they had left dmt out of it.

I think this pretty much sums up my impression on the people who hate this film. It's like someone made an interesting and original movie, but it happened to have a scene about fighter piloting which was very inaccurate and simplified. Then you go to the fighter pilot forums and wonder why they all seem to hate the movie so much...

And I perfectly understand it, I'm a sort of geek and whenever I see those scenes where they make something absolutely retarded with technologies, for example find out the reg plates of a car after "enhancing" a digital image (you cant f***ing interpolate all that from a few pixels!!), after that I always need to pause it and take a deep breath and remind myself that not everyone in the world cares about stuff like that.

With Enter the Void I didn't get that kind of a nerdrage reaction because I wasn't very experienced with DMT at the time, but now I can see how the scene is not very accurate at all. In addition to the answering the phone nonsense, it's completely lacking actual psychedelic aspects like a kind of insanity/fractal/checkerpattern/nurseryrhyme stuff. It's more like a Hollywood interpretation of a DMT trip, with just "cool" visuals.

But so what? If you have to, just skip the scene or something, but don't let it affect your opinions about the rest of the movie. And BTW this isn't really a "movie" in the traditional sense, it's more like a non-interactive first-person experience, and it should be watched with a good theater system and a willingness to get immersed. A shame he didn't make it in 3D, I think this kind of stuff is meant to be watched in full 3D with VR goggles or something. The plot is what it is, but it's more about the experience itself that the director is trying to bring out..

Ah well whatever , I should maybe try not to get so defensive everytime someone hates on this movie..

 

[Vodsel]

I would have hated the film much less if they had left dmt out of it.

I think this pretty much sums up my impression on the people who hate this film. It's like someone made an interesting and original movie, but it happened to have a scene about fighter piloting which was very inaccurate and simplified. Then you go to the fighter pilot forums and wonder why they all seem to hate the movie so much...

Completely agreed, with the analogy and the rest of the post.

I get why some people here dislike the film. Because DMT use, besides being a complex, somewhat risky experience that takes proper skills like fighter piloting, has a sacred meaning to lots - and also, like other psychedelics, it has been brutally smeared, so we understandably jump at any piece of inaccurate information or depiction that will reach people. It's like a small profanation, like a lost chance to speak the truth, and that makes us cringe.

So if we had an accurate description of the DMT experience in the film (assuming such a thing can be done) we agree that would make it better, but I don't think the fact we don't is enough to build a case against this movie.

First, because that's not the point of the film. Enter the Void is a personal adaptation of the Bardo Thodol, an attempt to bring subjectivity on film at a different level, and of course a portrait of the filmmaker's world and his gaze. It's visually unique, it plays by its own rules and addresses things that are seldom seen in a movie. Just for these reasons I will always defend it, same as I did dozens of times with 2001.

 

[Michal_R]

This has been a very interesting discussion for me.

(1)
I agree with the feeling of most of us here, that it is (almost) impossible to graphically depict a DMT trip in a movie. Some people here - and that´s my personal feeling - think that the director/visual artists could have done a better job in this field... (I personally can relate to this position, and I understand the strong objection that a DMT experience actually cannot be depicted graphically in "this" world at all, and if, then only crudely inaccurately)

(2)
My another feeling is that there are some Nexians who don´t like the idea of DMT being "caught on tape" at all. And I can relate to that perspective as well: literally anything on TV can be potentially politicized and turned into just another object of political struggle (in anti-drug rhetorics and policies, most notably).

I can relate to both of these standpoints. However, I personally quite enjoyed the film, and I am glad it is out there... (otherwise we wouldn´t be having this nice discussion )

 

[jamie]

I would have hated the film much less if they had left dmt out of it.

I think this pretty much sums up my impression on the people who hate this film. It's like someone made an interesting and original movie, but it happened to have a scene about fighter piloting which was very inaccurate and simplified. Then you go to the fighter pilot forums and wonder why they all seem to hate the movie so much...

And I perfectly understand it, I'm a sort of geek and whenever I see those scenes where they make something absolutely retarded with technologies, for example find out the reg plates of a car after "enhancing" a digital image (you cant f***ing interpolate all that from a few pixels!!), after that I always need to pause it and take a deep breath and remind myself that not everyone in the world cares about stuff like that.

With Enter the Void I didn't get that kind of a nerdrage reaction because I wasn't very experienced with DMT at the time, but now I can see how the scene is not very accurate at all. In addition to the answering the phone nonsense, it's completely lacking actual psychedelic aspects like a kind of insanity/fractal/checkerpattern/nurseryrhyme stuff. It's more like a Hollywood interpretation of a DMT trip, with just "cool" visuals.

But so what? If you have to, just skip the scene or something, but don't let it affect your opinions about the rest of the movie. And BTW this isn't really a "movie" in the traditional sense, it's more like a non-interactive first-person experience, and it should be watched with a good theater system and a willingness to get immersed. A shame he didn't make it in 3D, I think this kind of stuff is meant to be watched in full 3D with VR goggles or something. The plot is what it is, but it's more about the experience itself that the director is trying to bring out..

Ah well whatever , I should maybe try not to get so defensive everytime someone hates on this movie..

The DMT use in the movie means nothing to me, that part has nothing to do with me not liking it..without it I still think the movie was just not that great at all. I could not stand watching it and ended up just turning it off about 20 minutes before the end because it went on and on without getting to any point..I was so bored watching that movie. I wanted to see it so a friend brought it over and half way through I just felt like I was waiting and waiting for it to be over.

 

[WEM]

I've only ever watched the movie once, and as I haven't tried dmt yet, I cannot account to its accuracy of the trip depiction, but everyone who's commented so far is probably correct on that account. As for the references to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, I haven't read it so idk if it's accurate to it either (can anyone say if it's a book worth reading?).

As for the rest of the movie after he's shot, it does get really dizzying with the camera pointed directly downwards and spinning through walls and floating around the city, kinda made my eyes hurt with a feeling similar to motion sickness from the conflicting signals of me not moving and the scenes in the movie constantly moving... unsure when/if I'll watch it again.

 

[Doodazzle]

I would have hated the film much less if they had left dmt out of it.

I think this pretty much sums up my impression on the people who hate this film. It's like someone made an interesting and original movie, but it happened to have a scene about fighter piloting which was very inaccurate and simplified. Then you go to the fighter pilot forums and wonder why they all seem to hate the movie so much...

The inaccuracy of the dmt trip did not really bother me much. It was the utter smearing of dmt's good name. "Hey lemme get another bump of coke....and do you have any dmt?" That convo bothered me. Long after the dmt trip was over, they mentioned dmt like 5 times. Such an utterly depraved, debauched and disgusting movie should leave the spice alone.


If Anal Cunt and the Insane Clown Posse and GG Allen toured together and called it the "dmt and ayahuasca madness tour" how would you feel?

 

[Psyren]

I would have hated the film much less if they had left dmt out of it.

I think this pretty much sums up my impression on the people who hate this film. It's like someone made an interesting and original movie, but it happened to have a scene about fighter piloting which was very inaccurate and simplified. Then you go to the fighter pilot forums and wonder why they all seem to hate the movie so much...

The inaccuracy of the dmt trip did not really bother me much. It was the utter smearing of dmt's good name. "Hey lemme get another bump of coke....and do you have any dmt?" That convo bothered me. Long after the dmt trip was over, they mentioned dmt like 5 times. Such an utterly depraved, debauched and disgusting movie should leave the spice alone.


If Anal Cunt and the Insane Clown Posse and GG Allen toured together and called it the "dmt and ayahuasca madness tour" how would you feel?

but they were stuck in the middle of japan, a giant endless crazy city (which i think the movie really captured) Id be craving any drug i could get too

 

[Vodsel]

Long after the dmt trip was over, they mentioned dmt like 5 times. Such an utterly depraved, debauched and disgusting movie should leave the spice alone.

That sounds like a step away from banning a cartoonist for making a caricature of Muhammad.

You have a story with extreme, borderline characters living an outcast life in a dehumanized city. Then you have a love story between a brother and a sister. He is a drug dealer until he gets killed in a setup and she works as a stripper. What do you expect with a story like this? Certainly not a knowledgeable, balanced, religious approach to spice. Or to any drug, for that matter.

Enter the Void doesn't intend to be a piece of DMT 101. It does not constitute an apology for irresponsible drug use either. Suggesting that, because of the nature of the characters or the story, a film should leave out ideas, things or doctrines that happen to be sacred for some people (or when properly understood), is not a healthy approach at all.

 

[Michal_R]

I believe that at least some people on DMT-Nexus can relate to the main character´s desire to use psychedelics as a means of exploring himself as well as transcending the anti-social and in-human world around him...

I definitely can relate to that.

Why such a particular path turned into a disaster is another question... but I can relate to that as well, because I have observed people NOT ´using psychedelics wisely´...

 

[Doodazzle]

Long after the dmt trip was over, they mentioned dmt like 5 times. Such an utterly depraved, debauched and disgusting movie should leave the spice alone.

That sounds like a step away from banning a cartoonist for making a caricature of Muhammad.

You have a story with extreme, borderline characters living an outcast life in a dehumanized city. Then you have a love story between a brother and a sister. He is a drug dealer until he gets killed in a setup and she works as a stripper. What do you expect with a story like this? Certainly not a knowledgeable, balanced, religious approach to spice. Or to any drug, for that matter.

Enter the Void doesn't intend to be a piece of DMT 101. It does not constitute an apology for irresponsible drug use either. Suggesting that, because of the nature of the characters or the story, a film should leave out ideas, things or doctrines that happen to be sacred for some people (or when properly understood), is not a healthy approach at all.

You make good points as well.

Still don't like the film, though I admit to being a bit zealous (Earlier) over it.

 

[Parshvik Chintan]

If Anal Cunt and the Insane Clown Posse and GG Allen toured together and called it the "dmt and ayahuasca madness tour" how would you feel?

absolutely awful, but mostly just because of the insane clown posse being respected (even if only a little bit) by gg allen and anal cunt.