Wild and unwieldy 'Climax' gets 2019 cinema going with a bang

Last year Annihilation and Black Panther both laid down markers as early as February as two of the most important, compelling movies of the year. This year -- Climax -- which may be simply an exercise in style over substance, but what an exercise! -- has burst onto the scene as a movie to reckoned with. It's provocative, exhausting, exhilarating, scary and funny all at the same time.

It's not for the faint of heart, and if movies like Mother! and Suspiria aren't your cup of tea than steer clear, but if you go into this one looking for a purely visceral, sensory experience, you will not be disappointed.

It's the work of director Gasper Noe, a filmmaker best known for the infamous film Irreversible, which is a similarly experimental, button-pushing work that employs all sorts of wild, weaving single takes that immerse you in a world whether you like it or not.

The world of Climax is far less grimy and off-putting then the atmosphere of that world. It opens with one of the most electrifying dance sequences I've ever seen, choreographed to seem both organic and theatrical at the same time. It's all captured in a virtuoso single take, and the cast, which are all dancers first, actors second going so hard you will want to take a breather just watching them.

Abruptly the film changes styles and becomes an almost Altman-esque comedy about a multiracial, sexually fluid and very horny collection of performers -- and yet this is another fakeout because the last third is something more akin to a horror, albeit one that has no supernatural component whatsoever.

What does it all mean? It's hard to say. Noe clearly gets off on making the viewer extremely uncomfortable and that he does with everything from impish false endings to some truly macabre moments involving self mutilation and child abuse.

And lest you think this movie is a totally dreary affair -- it isn't -- it's a propulsive, exciting and eye-popping film. There were sequences here where I literally don't know how the camera captured what I was seeing.

And when it was all over, I felt as spent as the characters on-screen, stunned to see that it all took place in just over 90 minutes. There's a lot of movie here, and it's definitely more complicated than it appears on the surface.

I have no idea how 2019 is going to shape up as a year in film -- Climax is technically a 2018 production just getting its stateside sea legs now -- but this is certainly the first truly marvelous film I've seen since this year's start and it's going to be a touch act to follow.