The following clip is the opening sequence of Gaspar Noe’s film “Enter the Void.” The credits alone are a powerful visual overload that introduce the crazy, bizarre nature of the film that follows, which is an attraction in itself. It is plain to see how the credits, flashing at hyper speed in various colors, fonts, graphics, and languages, and paired with jolting electronic music, are an attraction in how they overwhelm the viewer’s senses.
The film explores The Tibetan Book of the Dead which regards the afterlife and reincarnation, and the drug DMT. Noe, known for his sweeping, penetrating, exploratory camera movements, takes the viewer on a psychedelic, visually engrossing, ultimately mind-f***ing journey through the crazy streets of Tokyo. From full-screen trippy swirling color patterns, to continually revisiting an all white screen flickering for a full 5-minutes, to the perpetual replay of a horrifically graphic car crash scene, Noe does not give the audience a moment to rest.
However, the film’s attractions do not coincide with Gunner’s belief that attractions dominate or devalue the narrative because it is the attractions of “Enter the Void” that are the narrative’s visual representation. It is through Noe’s visual attractions, such as on-screen hallucinations, reoccurring haunting memories, flashes of white, and soaring camera angles, that Noe is able to invite the audience into the main character’s mind/spirit/whatever you believe ‘it’ to be. We are able to perceive what the main character is perceiving in his drug-induced and after-death experiences, therefore we can conclude that the attractions of the film are the narrative.
The Cinema of Attractions 