11 Movies That Will Make You Go “Huh?”

3) Holy Motors

I still don’t know what the hell to make of Holy Motors. You’ve got this weird little man who traipses through the streets over the course of a day and night, apparently doing his job which consists of acting out bizarre scenes with other people. Odder still is that one of the first scenes that he participates in, performing in a motion capture suit with a partner in a kind of dance that seems meant to be some kind of sex simulation, is unbelievably beautiful and compelling in a way that keeps you entranced throughout. This is then followed by him changing costumes into a crazy street person who eats plants and assaults people. Pretty charming.

None of it is meant to make too much sense, I don’t think, although plenty of critics have speculated about possible meanings contained within Holy Motors, such as the whole thing acting as a commentary on the state of cinema and the transition from film to digital technologies or something. I’m less than convinced of this.

What I am convinced of is that this is a mystifying and wonderful movie, puzzling in what it’s supposed to express (if anything that specific) yet seemingly certain of what it has set out to achieve. It’s not jaw-dropping in the Spielberg sense, but perhaps in the way seeing an artist going absolutely ball-out, so to speak, can leave your jaw on the floor in amazement and incomprehension.