Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson

A short guy  with a medium-sized penis (you can judge for yourself) drives around Paris in a limo for a series of ‘appointments’ playing various roles – banker, street beggar, motion-capture artist, irritable father, thug. Perpetrator, victim.

It’s like a feature-length series of performance-art pieces, which would normally shit me completely. Performance art is a bit like being shouted at in a foreign language: sure, you get the emotion, but if you don’t understand the meaning, what’s the point?

Luckily, Holy Motors has subtitles, and it seems to be about the roles we make ourselves play in our own lives, or how we too often passively spectate. Though I may be wrong.

There are flashes of weird humour, cinematic beauty and, well, Kylie Minogue, who does OK but doesn’t add much to the plot or message.

7/10

Released August 23, 2012.

Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chrome was nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.

His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.

He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.