User reviews

Normally i have no problem with mid- to slow-paced films. I commend the director who takes his time to tell a story in todays hysterical film-industry. But unfortunately you need to know what story you´re telling...

I have no idea what director Karim Hussain really wanted to say with this film. It´s a sort of post-apocalyptic drama about three women going after the one who killed god. Apparently all humans were given the ability to do miracles, and the world was thrown into chaos as everyone started abusing that power. Now three women are climbing an old factory where, on the top floor, the one who started the whole downfall of society is waiting. By killing him/her they will destroy the world and end this nightmare.

The story was fine, until the movie started... The movie is simply just an excruciatingly slow display of three women climbing metal stairs while airing nonsensical philosophical statements. All the while minimalistic industrial music grinds in the background. And absolutely nothing happens. I know that i wasn´t the only one finding this to be a test in endurance, out of perhaps 70 present in the audience about 5 people left before the film was over. To compare this to Tarkovskij (as some people have) is an abomination. This is slow, painful and quite frankly shallow. I rate this 1 out of 10.

Everything about this movie is HORRIBLE. I saw the advanced screening of "Ascension" and I was amazed at what I saw. I could not understand how a film like this could get made. Everything about it was awful. The acting was monochromatic, the scenes were atrociously edited and designed, the DIALOGUE was a wonderful effort put in by a third-grade child, the camera movements and shots were uninteresting. The film was bland and repetitive and served no purpose. The only good comments posted about this movie were made by the unimaginitive, banal director. DO ANYTHING TO AVOID SEEING THIS MOVIE, INCLUDING THE GOUGING OF YOUR OWN EYES.

I think that all the favorable comments on this site come from the director and his buddies - note the constant Tarkovsky comparisons. Don't be deceived: this film is crap, and a tragic misuse of the talents of three great actresses. The whole thing was just sickeningly repetitive and dull, I felt as though I was watching it for decades. While everything should work: Ir: talent, cinematography, score, lighting - the basic premise of this movie is so pretentious and empty that it's a waste. Spend your money on an Ingmar Bergman flick for the real thing and not some lame wannabe. This emperor has no clothes, people!

I saw a screening of "Ascension" and I could not believe that producers actually funded this. I could not beleive how awful it was. Everything that makes film great: acting, dialogue, camera movements, sets etc were so bland and boring that the only thing that kept me in my seat was the faint hope that 1 thing, JUST ONE thing would be good about it. And you know what, there was not one frame of film in "Ascension" that I found redeeming. Do anything you can not to see this film. The only positive comments that are posted are made by the unimaginative director and his entourage of idiots.

Its a movie for the people who look into a monochromatic wall and see a piece of art.

Only with lots of imagination can one see here a good movie.

Imagine that the lights are good, imagine that the dialog is good, imagine that...

When i saw the movie,I left after an hour so to not spend more money on the car parking.

There was TWO BLIND GUYS next to me!!!

The movie is mostly dialog but PLEASE!

There wasn't even infrastructures for blind people... (scene description)

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.

I saw this film at the Sitges festival in December 2003 and it blew my mind. My legs were like jelly as I tried to exit the theatre. I have never been affected like this from a film. The director described it as a "poison". I went up to him afterward and told him that it was, instead, an "antidote".

I can see this splitting audiences in a big way, as the comments here attest. I don't think you could be indifferent. You'll love it or hate it. I loved it because it was well constructed and well executed, self-assured, daring, packing an intensity that made it impossible to take my eyes off the screen, all building to an ending that was so perfect it defies description. See it and decide for yourself.

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.

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.

I do not recommend you see this movie if you are not a fan of Andrei Tarkovsky and Stanley Kubrick, or are only into gore and action flicks. I recommend you see this film if you like imaginative camera work, intricate sound design and evocative, memorable music.

The performances by the three leads may at first seem awkward, but paying close attention to the dialogue and interations between the three women will reveal the many layers that comprise their characters.

Kudos to David Kristian for providing a soundtrack reminiscent of the best John Carpenter or Tangerine Dream scores from the late 70s-early 80s, and for adding sound design so deep and disturbing that it might as well have been credited as a fourth lead character.

Hussain's compositions and lighting are also noteworthy, as he eschews the usual darkness and blue hues to instead bathe his characters and locations in pale natural light that becomes even more disturbing.

I was a little confused by the film's ending, but this is the kind of film you should own and have playing in the background as an atmosphere piece, slowly soaking it in over several years until you get every bit of its clever subtext.

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 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.

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!

If you want a fast horror film full of jump scares and a high budget, this probably won't be for you.

If instead you're cool with a low budget, slow burning, tense philosophy vehicle well then you might like this.

I personally love it, something about it reminds me of Stalker. As the backdrop for the film is one that would usually warrant spectacle, it kind with the overall themes of the film that we don't see the abhorrent miracles performed out in the wider world, instead the location for the story is the only place miracles cannot be performed.

This might be a let down for some, but I think it's a severely over looked broken masterpiece.