Don't Look Back

• DON'T LOOK BACK (DVD MOVIE)

Alex and Marcus are a couple whose story is told over the course of a fateful evening in a series of long takes. An emotional odyssey that unspools in reverse from gut-wrenching violence to sweetly observed moments of sublime tenderness.System Requirements:Starring Albert Dupontel Monica Bellucci Vincent Cassel Directed by Noe Running time: 97 minutes Copyright Lion's Gate 2003Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR UPC: 658149815926 Manufacturer No: ST8159DIrreversible begins with the closing credits running backwards before the film begins (or ends) with Marcus (Vincent Cassell) and Pierre (Albert Dupontel) being escorted out of a gay S&M club by the cops, Marcus with his arm broken and Pierre in handcuffs. The "story" proceeds to unwind in a series of single-take scenes that unfold Memento-style, with each scene giving more cont! ext to what we have seen previously. Each scenario depicts actions, dialogue, incident, behavior, and circumstances that the lead characters might have wished didn't happen, ranging from extreme violence through awkward social situations to mild embarrassment. The central character (and possible dreamer of this whole what-if story) emerges as Alex (Monica Bellucci), who suffers the worst in a very hard-to-watch rape sequence in an underpass. Semi-improvised, the scenes all have attack and power as themes, with later/earlier conversational sequences that suggest life isn't all sexual assaults in the dark, showing equal cinematic imagination with the horrors. Arguably, this is not a film most would subject themselves to twice, but it is something that stays in the mind for days after viewing, sparking far more ideas and emotions than most wallow-in-nastiness pictures. --Kim NewmanFrench director Marina de Van follows her boldly audacious debut In My Skin with the thri! ller DON'T LOOK BACK, another brave, disturbing plunge into da! rkness t hat plays with identity and body doubles a la David Lynch s Mulholland Drive and David Cronenberg s Dead Ringers. Author Jeanne (Sophie Marceau of The World Is Not Enough and Braveheart) has her new novel turned down and then begins to question everything. Was that table really located in that corner? Is this my husband? Is that my child? In a daringly cinematic moment that employs state of the art special effects, the character morphs into an entirely different actress (the luscious Monica Bellucci of The Matrix Reloaded, The Sorcerer s Apprentice, and The Passion Of The Christ,) and embarks on a determined quest to uncover the secret hidden in her past that has undermined her world. DON'T LOOK BACK marks the next stage of a truly unconventional talent.