I Stand Alone

Stunning. The writer-director Gaspar Noe's first-person account of a jobless butcher's trip on the down escalator has a lot of superficial resemblances to TAXI DRIVER, but the real unseen hand behind this shattering picture belongs to Louis-Ferdinand Celine, whose scabrous stream-of-consciousness monologues Noe has translated into scorching, nineties angry-white-man-ese. As the butcher's three hundred francs dwindle, and his handgun starts looking more and more appealing, Noe surgically implants us inside the antihero's head using a cascade of hilarious and horrifying nihilistic rants that don't quite resemble anything you've ever heard in a movie.

Noe's ingenuity in reinventing the subjective style of TAXI DRIVER is near-limitless; his array of techniques dazzles, from the Godardian intertitles that break the action like a butcher's cleaver hammering a wooden cutting board, to the deafening gunshots accompanied by digital pans and zooms that throw a Brechtian bucket of icewater on the proceedings whenever they calm down. At times the picture suggests one of Fassbinder's fatalistic fables staged as a William Castle horror movie; in a stroke of genius, Noe conceives of the inevitable crack-up finale not in terms of some novel spin on the image, but as a blizzard of scurrilous language--a head self-narrating to the implode point.

At times, the butcher's and Noe's nihilism seem to be one--and a posturing, collegiate nihilism it can be. And the penultimate section of the movie thunks along as Noe recreates painfully familiar scenes from TAXI DRIVER almost in toto. But the cumulative effect of the movie is lacerating, the way early Scorsese and Toback must have felt the first time out. French-language cinema hasn't gotten this kind of wake-up call since the (lesser) MAN BITES DOG.

The movie shocked me, it made me feel sad, sorry and ashamed.

It shows how a potentially good human being can become bad due to the lack of love in our society. Society and it's egoism, loneliness, selfishness, and individualism affect all humans. Some more than others. This movie is a rather extreme example, but it is definitely what is needed to shake you and make this world a better place.

Some might interpret it as a useless display of bitterness and turn their head to keep on living their "comfortable" lives. Probably most will do that by fear of confronting such a terrible reality. With that attitude nothing will change.

I see the main's characters attitude as the natural consequence of a society without love, a society where everything is given in exchange of something (natural consequence of capitalism). Unfortunately people living afraid and with no love are everywhere. Their acts are a consequence of the extreme individualism and lack of interest of human beings towards others, hence the lack of care for themselves, hence the lack of love.

"Life is a selfish act". Unfortunately our society, or in other words ourselves, act selfishly. As long as that keeps on going the world will be a sad, boring and lonely place.

I have faith in humanity and in living in a world of care, respect, tolerance and responsibility towards the rest. Unfortunately we still have a looooong way to go.

I recommend it to everyone, specially the ones who do not like facing reality and prefer living in "comfort". They need it more than anyone. I give it a well merited 10.

'I Stand Alone' goes where few movies dare these days. It presents a portrait of hatred, disgust, despair and nihilism. Many would probably not like to face up to the fact that people like "The Butcher" exist in our society, but they do. By ignoring them we compound the problems they present and represent.

Philippe Nahon plays a middle aged unemployed French butcher who is trapped in a loveless relationship with his pregnant girlfriend (Frankye Pain). She has some money and uses it as a power trip, promising to set him up with a new shop. When that doesn't eventuate he attacks her in a fit of rage, and leaves with a gun and three bullets. He heads back to Paris with no money and no prospects. As he sinks lower and lower into hopelessness his anger intensifies, and his mind races with fantasies of violence and revenge.

This is a confronting and profoundly disturbing movie, mainly because of it's realism and believability. While it certainly features some scenes of extreme violence, and one scene of explicit pornography (blurred in the print I watched), most of what makes it so powerful and horrible is the almost non-stop venomous monologues of "The Butcher". Director Gaspar Noe self consciously apes Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver' in several scenes, but this movie is a truly original vision. Highly recommended for movie buffs with strong stomachs, and the ability to deal with dark and troubling material.

Man, that movie was intense. I saw Irreverisible a while back and just discovered this film. As I tried to rate it I have to admit that if a film effects you in the way this movie just did then there is something to it. I know many people who would be disgusted by this film and simply say they did not like it, it was a "bad movie." The reality is that every movie doesn't have to be uplifting and make you feel good. All I know is that I feel extremely alone and weird at the moment, independent of anything going on in my life. In that way, I think the film did its job. To an extent, the main character is so sick and jaded that one doesn't exactly relate to him or identify with the character. At the same time however, for those of us that don't experience life as rosy and joyous all the time, there is an element of utter pessimism that one can relate to. In a traditional sense, not that much actually happens in this movie. The majority of it is filled with an inner dialogue and scenes of people just sitting around.

I suppose it's odd for me to say that I like this film, but as I said, I think it did its job. The soundtrack was well done and the acting was thoroughly convincing. If you can deal with "depressing" and disturbing movies, I'd give I Stand Alone a shot. If not, rent Big and go to bed feeling nostalgic and hopeful about the future.

This is Gaspar Noe's deliberately disturbing film of one man's resentment of his own life. It's a highly cinematic monologue of malevolence by a volatile, middle-aged protagonist. The film's brilliance comes from the daring moralism it projects right up to it's startling conclusion. Without giving anything away, this is a mean-spirited, convincingly fiendish love story that sadistically gives it's audience a 30 second chance to leave the theater before things get resolved. A absolutely terrific monster movie for mature audiences only!