Pandemonium

After a devastating car accident, several survivors get up from the wreckage only to realize they are involved in an existential crisis over their past indiscretions coming back to haunt them, and after learning of the fates of several others like them must find a way to deal with their situation.

This was a highly disappointing and pretty underwhelming genre effort. The only aspect that really works well here is the initial setup and how it all starts which manages to bring about a highly effective use of chilling imagery to figure out what's going on. The whole idea of the characters being stuck in the afterlife with no idea themselves comes about rather well and the moody location offers the kind of intriguing starting point that gets this going on a high note. As well, with the way the films' approach to things includes a well-worn treatise on grief and the processing of trauma the way he comes across the other individuals who are stuck there like they are manages to be a highly effective setup that discusses the nature of sin in such a way as to be quite impressive overall. Beyond that, though, there's not a whole lot to say about this one since the structure of what's going on isn't all that enjoyable. This is due to the anthology structure present which makes very little sense for how it's incorporated. The inclusion in the middle of the film with very little warning that isn't that interesting beyond a one-note setup makes for some cliched stereotype setpieces to come about while only dealing with some rather bland and pedestrian themes. That they take up so much of the running time in the middle of the film offers up the kind of non-genre guilt trip that these stories are based on that it feels so shoehorned into this with the story of the murderous child being so confusing with where it takes place and how it all comes together with the imaginary friend that it's hard to enjoy it while the second story is barely genre-related at all about the bullied teen with so much of it about the mother's guilt for what happened. These aren't that interesting to watch and really just turn this off overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

I'm not usually one to write reviews, but I felt like I had to for this movie. The script was really well done from start to finish. I wouldn't call it a horror movie because it had so many realistic elements; it felt more like a spiritual journey we hope never to experience ourselves. The music and sounds added a scary element to the whole movie. I had to rewatch a few scenes to get a clear picture of what was happening, and I didn't regret doing so. Even though the movie is French, it captivated me from beginning to end. It's definitely worth watching, and I'll leave it at that so you can be surprised too.

Pandemonium (2023, France), at face-value presents three ostensibly loose standing stories which all lead to almost everyone, fairly or unfairly, ending up in hell and going through a Dantesque process of suffering.

At this level the story engages questions around the moral values, if any, of those who "judge" humanity and as such the potential irrelevance of human existentialism.

There is also space for interpreting the film. An example of this flows mainly from the final aspect around the reincarnation of the Anti-Christ and the immediately preceding remarks around time being a human construct and not being linear. In each story we experience loss by the protagonist of family members in different ways, but there is always loss and there is always either direct or indirect guilt on the side of the protagonist. The argument for the stories thus dealing with reincarnation is not totally far-fetched and provides a solid thread to combine the stories into one larger story.

The cinematography was clearly influenced by writer and director Alexandre Claudin (Quarxx)'s artistic and atmospheric intent, inter alia demonstrated through the homage paid to various genres of horror films through the three stories.

The acting, especially by (at the time) ten year old Manon Maindevide, was top notch. The writing left obvious lacunae in the individual stories as well as the connecting story. Some might see this as a weakness in the film but it served an obvious purpose , both in relation to the main theme of existentialism / life-death-afterlife and the meaning (if any) thereof, as well as how the viewer gets his or her head around this theme, i.e. Through personal interpretation. Definitely a very unique film. 9/10.

It is unclear how the plot can be end-to-end if the artistic lines are not connected, and it is unclear how this can be called an almanac if the episodes are within the same story - this was a small digression, and now about the film.

Indeed, the beginning is interesting, intriguing, shrouded in mysticism and religious meanings, and I really liked this beginning, probably all fans of mystical stories will agree with me. The first episode is not only intriguing, but also surprising with unexpected twists. In general, my impressions of the first episode are only positive, the only thing that was a little lacking was big emotional plans in moments of denial. The first episode ends with a mysterious cliffhanger of the world of the dead and the director continues the narrative with additional illogical storylines. These two additional stories contain elements of absurd arthouse, in which what is happening, to a greater and then to a lesser extent, resembles the somnambulized fantasy of childhood traumas. The second episode is aimed at a teenage audience who is struggling to entertain the quirks of a crazy girl and her dissociative disorder. There is an ugly image in this episode, which the director associates with destruction and the concept of "thanatos". But there is a provocative and disgusting reason - the bathroom scene - that highlights the director's sexual deviations.

The third episode no longer entertains, but strains with absurd action, suicidal themes and problems of adolescent cruelty - involvement in these problems deserves special praise, but how the director mixes and presents these meanings is no longer so unambiguous and not so clear, it's all about the motives of the mother. The mother's character is depersonalized and disoriented, the reasons for this behavior are not explained and are not connected with the main theme of afterlife justice. The only connection of the third episode is the magical transformation of the door into a wall. This plot solution hints at the unreality of what is happening, but I don't see any point in it except for the usual manipulation or, if you like, mystical speculation for the sake of a magical flair. Doors in this film are generally a specific fetish of the director, I do not remember a film with so many doors. Through the doors, the director submits the plot of all the episodes, they flash in almost every scene, but do not create a clear picture and are not connected with the finale, and the finale is an important part not only of the film, but also of any dramatic work.

What the viewer eventually gets: the first unfinished fascinating episode, and two subsequent, completely unrelated plots, which are more like separate short films - and it takes a significant effort of will to watch them. The finale, well, is quite okay, if you save the first episode and the ending, and cut the other two, then nothing will change except for a shortened timekeeping, which does not go beyond the short film. In fact, the film consists of three short films, in which there are meaningless characters: a postman and a neighbor, and do not forget two dozen doors, which also embody inanimate characters.

In cinema, everything should be meaningful and necessary, but this collection has its own unique atmosphere, unknown to the viewer, but so close to the director-screenwriter.

Two things are very successful in the film: the initial intrigue of the first episode, and the voicing of socially acute themes of the third episode with a dramatic and terrible scene of teenage cruelty.

Heaven and hell truly exist. You see a glimpse of the later one while watching this movie. And it's definitely the place where the writer/director will end up... I rarely write reviews, but when having watched an extraordinary movies I make an exception every now and then. This is is such a time and the reason is clearly not positive. The movie earns its one star because of an idea of the afterlife it tries to present. But that's it. The resulting plot lacks a lot of logic (which the director tries to explain at first, but then gets weirder with every additional episode every passing minute). The missing visual effects (one CGI - I don't count the static doors in the landscape as such - and three latex face masks are not enough) and slow-acting actors with long-winding dialogues (and not describing anything despite it) give the movie the rest.

Maybe: if you watch it nevertheless, you could place this lost half and a hour of lifetime on your judgement day as good deed for self-abandonment...