Ascension

It is interesting to see how dramatically people react to this movie. You've got to have an open-minded approach to be able to appreciate the slow, poetic vision of the director. If you don't like to think while watching a film, this is simply not for you.

I think this is a fantastic film. The young women have a talent for magic and poetry for this sort of surrealist artistic statement. It is impossible to take your eyes of them. That is probably also the thought of the camera zooms.

There are a lot of memorable lines. They are loaded with among the most cynicism and nihilism I have heard. Sometimes they are so extreme you have to laugh. It's like watching Evil Dead only you react to the dialouge instead of the gore.

Musicwise it is especially interesting. It reminds me of B-science fiction films set in a post-apocalyptic world, like Cyborg 3, but obviously with fingertip feeling. It merges with the soothing sound design similar to that in Blade Runner.

Overall, well worth watching if you are into Nietzsche-philosophies and Tarkovsky-symbolism.

My friend and I have always enjoyed watching all types of arthouse movies. So when we heard of this one we thought "ok cool, this seems like the kinda movie we'd like". We watched this movie in 2004, and now, 18 years later we still talk about "that horrible movie". Just last night my friend said "remember Ascension? I still can't get over that movie". We've recommended the movie to people as a cruel prank, which I'm now thinking no one deserves. We both agree that this is the worst film we've ever seen, and that's saying something.

Ascension is the kind of film you either love or hate. Those who hate it seem quite passionate and will no doubt defend their reasons to the end, but those who love it will also defend their reasons and be passionate about it. Visionary works of art are often subject to polarized points of view, which in my opinion, is what makes them resonate and have longevity.

Karim Hussain is a bold filmmaker. With this film, he has challenged our views and expectations regarding dialogue, music, lighting, cinematography, and even left some questions unanswered; a rare thing in an age where almost every film feeds us answers by the shovelful...

When you leave the theater, Ascension's images, sounds, and possible hidden meanings will linger in your mind. Even if you feel your cinematic status-quo has been turned inside out, one thing you will not feel is indifference.

Karim Hussain's Ascension has just won Best Film at the Sitges International Film Festival in the Official Competition - Noves Visions Section. The film also earned a nomination for Best Film at the Also if you can Fantasporto International Film Festival in Portugal.

This is one of the worst movies of all time.

Someone - probably the director - must have told the actors that if they do something slowly, it indicates thought, feelings or something... and the actors must then have though "good idea". They do everything slowly - walk, talk, think...

You keep seeing this midsized building in which they are walking up the stairs, but how can it take so long? oh well they do everything slowly...

It has meaningless lines, delivered slowly and badly. They torture us with bad cut scenes, awful camera handling, awful effects and bad music/sound.

This is terrible, it does nothing for me - except for being annoying. Maybe it is supposed to be controversial, provocative, blasphemous or something; it accomplishes none of this. Forget this title and find something more interesting.

I just saw an advance screening of this film and I barely even know what to write, save for saying that I think I've just found my newest favourite movie. This is the kind of discovery that all cineastes dream of crossing paths with. It will be classified as a fantastique or possibly horror film but it is not really possible to box this film into a specific genre. It is horrific, sardonic, poetic (while often sharply satirizing the very sort of poetry that it so eloquently achieves), hypnotic, provocative, grotesque, sumptuously beautiful and haunting in its caustic irony. So, what genre does that put it in? I think we'll need to create a new one, exclusively for Ascension. In an age where most films have lost the courage to take real narrative chances, here is a work where seemingly every line of dialogue takes a new, different kind of risk, and every gamble pays off. The film's pace is unconventional but absolutely perfect(many will probably liken it to Tarkovsky). It is brilliantly constructed. Work with it and you'll find yourself deep in its trance within minutes and from that point there's no going back until the credits begin to roll and you try to put your mind back together. I love the way this film is paced. The cinematography (shot by the writer / director himself) is breathtaking. It also features one of the greatest music scores I've ever heard. I simply cannot rave enough. This might very well be the best Canadian film in years. I want to see it ten more times. Right now. Tonight. DAMN!