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Some good films listed by ASP. I especially agree with his points about Combat Shock, Naked and Out of the Blue
I don't think Noe's films (with the exception (IMO) of Irreversible) are especially interesting in their own right. Although I do think they become more interesting when looked at as part of a broader trend within recent European films, marked by stuff like The Idiots, Baise-Moi, Ma Mere, L'Ennui, Romance, L'Humanite, Sitcom, Les choses secrets, Funny Games, etc, which appear to have tried to blur the bounderies between exploitation and art cinema, a tactic which I suppose can be traced back to filmmakers like Bunuel, Franju and Pasolini. It can also be related to the rise in recent years of novelists such as Michel Houellebecq, Melissa Parente and Catherine Millet, who seem to mark an equivalent kind of return to writers such as Bataille and Celine (and ultimately De Sade). As a cultural trend within Europe I find it fascinating, even if individually the films and novels associated with it haven't always stood up particularly well. (Although I certainly think that some have.) Either way, it certainly feels like a breath of fresh air from having had to endure years of stuff like Jean de Florette. It's wiped the smile off Amelie's face, and that's enough for me.
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