CLIMAX: D

What is supposed to be Gasper Noe’s most accessible film for someone like myself who hadn’t seen any of his films before, turned out to be a buzzkill for me. While Climax is visually impressive with a free-roaming camera set to a killer soundtrack, the hallucinatory imagery was nauseatingly unpleasant. I did, however, appreciate Noe’s references to Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession. But two scenes—one where a woman who is allegedly pregnant gets repeatedly kicked in the stomach and another where a young kid is locked in an electrical closet—made me mentally check out. I guess I know my limits now.

Sean Woodard, Film Editor