The first 10 or so minutes of O is filled with a frenetic energy that's rare in contemporary cinema, reminiscent of the first five or so minutes of Takashi Miike's Dead or Alive. But that energy quickly dissipates over its run, thanks to the fact that the film isn't actually finished. I actually managed to watch the film before it was taken off cinemas and it was not pretty to hear. Entire minutes went by without dialogue, music or any sound at all. The plot started making less and less sense as time went on, and when it ended, the film was a shadow of what it had promised in its first few minutes.
I had not planned to review this movie at all, but then the filmmakers "fixed" O and re-released it in cinemas a few days later. To be fair, this version does adequately address all the audio problems (at least for the most part) and considering that, in the words of the director himself, half of the film was not shot, the resulting product is remarkable, at the very least coherent.
That said, while enjoyable, O still feels largely unfinished. The story introduces and abandons many of its storylines with little to no fanfare, and the non-linear storytelling does not help in this regard. It's regrettable, but that's what happens with tight filmmaking schedules. One wonders what would've happened to the film had it been greenlit outside the festival system, but that in itself is a whole other monster: it's doubtful given the mainstream studio system we have in place right now that a film like O would have been greenlit in the first place.
I had not planned to review this movie at all, but then the filmmakers "fixed" O and re-released it in cinemas a few days later. To be fair, this version does adequately address all the audio problems (at least for the most part) and considering that, in the words of the director himself, half of the film was not shot, the resulting product is remarkable, at the very least coherent.
That said, while enjoyable, O still feels largely unfinished. The story introduces and abandons many of its storylines with little to no fanfare, and the non-linear storytelling does not help in this regard. It's regrettable, but that's what happens with tight filmmaking schedules. One wonders what would've happened to the film had it been greenlit outside the festival system, but that in itself is a whole other monster: it's doubtful given the mainstream studio system we have in place right now that a film like O would have been greenlit in the first place.
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