Review #21: The Voices (2014)


This review was originally written in October 2016.

Day 21: The Voices

Holy crap. Like, holy crap. Wow. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started watching this movie, and the first few minutes really didn't prepare me for what was to come. This movie was, in a word, brilliant. In a few more, hilarious, intelligent, and absolutely terrifying. These days, having been exposed to the sheer amount of horror as I have, it's not really a thing anymore for a movie to scare me; something might momentarily creep me out, or make me feel a bit uncomfortable for a little while. But this movie is the kind of experience that truly, deeply scares me- watching a person with such a clear dissociative disorder, experiencing a world of his own removed from what's real and yet seeing everything as perfectly real and solid to himself, is what really truly terrifies me to the core. Because it makes me wonder, what if I'm like him? What if one day I'm going to realize that I'm living in a cesspit surrounded by filth and acting out my delusions day in and day out because I've had a psychotic break and never realized it? That's something that truly scares me.

Whew, that got a little real. As far as the movie is concerned, like I said, this thing is brilliant. The art direction is so absurd and garish you can't help but stop and stare, and everything just has this unique look and feel to the sets, the clothing, the situations- it feels like something plucked right out of a fantasy yet with just enough real touches that you can't write it off completely. (The visual style actually seemed very reminiscent of another quirky dark movie I saw last year- The Double, with Jesse Eisenberg. I wonder if the two had any people in common on the production side.) And as I said, the story grabbed hold of me right at the start and didn't let go.

I have to say that this is hands-down the best movie I've seen this month, and I never would have even heard of it if it weren't for this thing I'm doing. If any of you out there are looking for one of the most disturbing and engaging movies you'll ever see, watch this one.

Rating: 10/10 Voices We All Hear

Restaurants I wish I could go to: Shi Shan

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