Kanopy Movie Club: "Holy Motors"

Join Matt for weekly film discussions beginning Friday, August 14th!

Watch and discuss films from around the world each week through our new virtual program: The Kanopy Movie Club! We will dive into the 2012 film Holy Motors for our first meeting on Friday, August 14th, from 2-3PM. Our weekly discussion is a fun, free-form chat about movies, where I hope we can make new friends and share what we love about film.

Holy Motors is a visual roller coaster of a film. A dreamlike slice of French Cinema, this critically acclaimed, Palme d’Or winning film takes us through a series of characters, all played by Denis Lavant. Lavant feels kind of like if Lon Chaney starred in Godard’s le Weekend, a shapeshifter moving from set to surreal set in his disguise-filled limousine. 
 
Lavant proceeds through a cavalcade of bizarre characters; a businessman and his assassin, a man in a green coat who terrorizes Paris, an old woman begging underneath a bridge, and a dad picking up his daughter from a party. Lavant is only himself between the sets, chain smoking and applying makeup in his limousine. Lavant is a gargoyle of an actor, disappearing into oddball characters, grotesque video games and familiar family situations. He is Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Bill Murray, and Godzilla all mashed together.

This may be the strangest, most quintessentially French film ever made. Holy Motors is a high brow/low brow blender that reminds me of modern classics like Synecdoche New York, Koyaanisqatsi, and Crank 2: High Voltage. Driving through the Paris streets and past the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe on his way to another bizarre appointment, Denis provides a meta commentary on his work—whatever that might be. Holy Motors is a comment on film and life itself. Love or hate it, there is so much to talk about. Such weird, beautiful moments and even an accordionist interlude make Holy Motors very worth watching. Here is a preview of the film:

You can watch Holy Motors in its entirety for free on Kanopy using your Basalt Regional Library card. If you need help using your library card to set up a Kanopy account, we have a quick guide on how to do that here on our website.

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Below is the information you need to join the Kanopy Movie Club Zoom meeting:

Meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/99093127742?pwd=RFZ4c3hFRnlhRTM1ZXRITXVGZFhKZz09
 
Meeting ID: 990 9312 7742
 
Passcode: 4h2UpR

If you have any questions, please send me an email at mcleer@basaltlibrary.org. See you on Friday!