NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

evanston_dad The first hour or so of "Nocturama" is a dazzling and suspenseful set piece that details how a group of young terrorists carry out coordinated attacks on government and business buildings in Paris. Crisp and playful editing has the story doubling back in time and shows us how the paths of the various characters, which at first are seemingly independent of one another, intersect.Then the film enters its second half, where the terrorists hole up overnight in a shopping mall, where one of their number is a security guard, and the whole exercise falls apart. Meant to be a blistering indictment of consumer capitalism and and I suppose the hollow convictions at the center of political activism -- these kids are obsessed with the very consumer products made by the institutions they condemn -- the film instead suffers from a fatal lack of logic and realism. By the time military soldiers are prowling through the mall randomly shooting whoever they see, whether armed or not, and without the slightest interest in taking survivors for interrogation even though these are all people who are supposed to be involved in a terrorist plot, I had thrown up my hands and given up.I get it, I get it. I shouldn't get hung up on a desire for realism and should instead embrace the symbolic and representational aspects of a film like this. Which I have no trouble doing if the symbolism is handled well. If I'm not meant to take events depicted in a film at face value, then the director needs to be better at indicating that. The film doesn't follow any kind of logic, not even of the internal kind. These kids are mature enough to carry out a detailed and sophisticated terrorist plot, but then have no better plan afterwards than to hang out at the mall? They seem to think that if they can make it for 24 hours without being tracked down then they're in the clear? That doesn't make any sense. And no military group would behave the way the ones in this film do. And no news agency would be broadcasting on television that the hideout of the terrorists was known before the authorities had arrived to contain the situation. The film requires too much suspension of disbelief on the part of its audience, with the result that we can't then focus on what the film is trying to tell us.Visually and aurally the film is impressive. One just wishes the storytelling hadn't been so flabby and lazy.Grade: C+

Red_Identity Even though it's quite clear from reading the premise that the film is surely not for everyone, that is still an understatement. The filmmaking here is incredibly detached of emotion, cold, and very, very clinical. That's part of the genius of it. A film like this needs to be executed this way, or else wavering too far into one side would be controversial, either being labeled as a film too forgiving of its protagonists and wanting us to sympathize with them, or portraying them as completely evil and not adding enough layers. In that respect the film works. It is mostly without a musical score, and scenes play out in long stretches in ways sure to infuriate many, but also impressive in their commitment. I think it's a fascinating, powerful film, but not an easy one to like.

Lisa Muñoz "It's amazing how much time you can spend with a person and still know nothing about them." A quote from the Fifth Estate, where you actually DO get know the characters. In this film which is over two hours long, is long and tension-filled, but incredibly vague. A group of young Parisian terrorists, from all different backgrounds, plant bombs in different parts of the city, and take refuge inside a luxurious department store. We never find out why the kids did what they did, why and what locations were targeted, what led them to all come together to do this and what their feelings are about it. They all act indifferent, and are willing to kill anyone who finds them out. Some are more emotional than others, but the feelings are shown to a minimal extent. In the end, a squat team enter the building and literally gun down every single one of them in cold blood, including ones who are surrendering, and even a homeless couple mistaken for their part in the kid's crimes. It's a horrible disturbing picture coming out too soon after the 2015 Paris attacks.I never really like things that are too vague, and offer very little sympathy for characters. And this is no exception.

FrostyChud NOCTURAMA starts with a thrilling lesson in pure cinema. For fifteen minutes we follow ten different characters as they silently navigate Paris. We know nothing about them. There is no dialogue. Yet it is gripping. Bonnello takes his first wrong turn when the bombs go off. The explosions aren't nearly big enough. The film devolves into mush as soon as the characters end up in the department store. All of the tension that Bonnello built up in the first part of the movie evaporates and the story becomes a heavy-handed critique of capitalism. I hate directors who try to push a political agenda. Bonnello did the same thing in his whorehouse movie. I don't think I'll be seeing another of his movies. From an ideological point of view, NOCTURAMA swims in bad faith. Today's terrorism does not resemble this. It is much less glamorous and much less innocent. It is not perpetrated by people like Bonnello's good- looking United Colors of Benetton cast. It is perpetrated by schizophrenics and religious freaks. By distorting reality in this way, he robs his story of the power that only fidelity to life could confer on it. At least we get to see each of these repulsive young fools shot in the end. I think Bonnello wants us to identify with them. "Whoa...this is like...a metaphor for our society...they give us all these luxury consumer goods...but we lose our souls, man...and when we attempt to rebel...we finally understand that we're powerless against the faceless pigs with truncheons and laser scopes!" He ends the film with a pathetic appeal to sentimentality, by having a young black boy (probably supposed to represent Syrian immigrants) beg the SWAT team to help him. All I can say is that I cheered inside when they put a bullet in his heart. Bonnello, you chose propaganda over reality and for that you are an enemy of art.