When I saw the “Wild Bunch” logo on the opening credits (which I recognized from Gaspar Noé’s movies), followed by a provocative paraphrasing of the Bible and the strobing lights in the night club scene, I expected Sheitan to be a weird ride. And it was indeed, with a performance by Vincent Cassel that needs to be seen to be believed, but the thing is that this movie suffers from the same problem as Bodies Bodies Bodies when it didn’t have to. The majority of the screen time is dedicated to an insufferable group of characters who, yes, are doomed, so sympathetic isn’t what the film was going for with them, but nonetheless we still have to endure their constant presence (Bart, the protagonist, is particularly nasty). This made the movie hard for me to enjoy and ended up drowning out the good parts, which is a shame, because Cassel’s diabolical farmer Joseph is a great villain, and his motivations are disturbing in a way that usually appeals to me. Well, it’s one star for his acting and that’s it.
When I saw the “Wild Bunch” logo on the opening credits (which I recognized from Gaspar Noé’s movies), followed by a provocative paraphrasing of the Bible and the strobing lights in the night club scene, I expected Sheitan to be a weird ride. And it was indeed, with a performance by Vincent Cassel that needs to be seen to be believed, but the thing is that this movie suffers from the same problem as Bodies Bodies Bodies when it didn’t have to. The majority of the screen time is dedicated to an insufferable group of characters who, yes, are doomed, so sympathetic isn’t what the film was going for with them, but nonetheless we still have to endure their constant presence (Bart, the protagonist, is particularly nasty). This made the movie hard for me to enjoy and ended up drowning out the good parts, which is a shame, because Cassel’s diabolical farmer Joseph is a great villain, and his motivations are disturbing in a way that usually appeals to me. Well, it’s one star for his acting and that’s it.
