!["Holy Motors" (2012)](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/01/f5/1360205977_2030_holy.jpg?itok=BrYgCEjo ""Holy Motors" (2012)")
My number 8 film of 2012 is a dazzling and highly confusing puzzler. It will fascinate but, yes, also alienate.
8. "Holy Motors" - Writer/director Leos Carax led me on my strangest cinematic journey of 2012, as his movie channels David Lynch and David Cronenberg and spins its own twists.
Paris is the setting for Oscar (Denis Lavant) and his silver-haired limousine driver, Celine (Edith Scob), and they crisscross the city for a series of "appointments."
The plot sounds simple enough, but unfolds as a complex and baffling character study.
Each stop along Oscar's workday offers extremely memorable visuals and sequences which sear into our memories and heighten our senses.
On some occasions, Carax offers compassion and beauty, but he presents other uglier facets of the human condition too, however, no matter where on the emotional spectrum his camera lands, exceptional movie-making consistently wins out.
This elebratory spectacle challenges traditional film narratives, and it centers around the nature of Oscar's employment.
We think Oscar’s “job” holds one purpose, but his behavior changes, and suddenly, our perception of his work becomes a broken theory.
Meanwhile, the picture plays out like a modern-day opera of symbolism, imagery and sound.
“Holy Motors” isn’t a musical, but offers a couple key numbers – including a ballad from Kylie Minogue – and we soon realize Carax is tugging on puppet strings laced with movie magic.
He holds complete command of the screen and uses that power to send the audience into bizarre territory by whisking us into a series of vignettes held together by the aforementioned fateful limo ride.
I must admit I could not decipher Carax’s code and determine – after a 1 hour 55 minute runtime – what it all meant.
It doesn’t matter.
The film took more chances in just 30 minutes than 10 ordinary movies combined, but its chameleon-like storyline will cause you to either throw your hands in the air out of frustration or completely embrace its weirdness.
I, obviously, chose the latter. It takes a lot to surprise me, and "Holy Motors" certainly did.
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