Most likely Top 10; three days later I am still floored. I was eight years old when this came out in 1996 so I can't really be upset with myself for being unaware of it at that time, but after finally seeing Irma Vep I am so filled with crackling thoughts and huge feelings I have to demand that anyone interested in film at all see it immediately.
Oh, why did I wait so long?! I should have seen this back when I was first discovering Welles, Fellini, French New Wave, and Tarkovsky. More than a masterpiece, I'd go so far as to call this film perfect. Less controversially I can say that it's at least perfect to my own aesthetic: Maysles-style cinematography, complex symbols (true symbols- inexpressible any other way, explanation impossible), great music, ecstatic ambiguities, and Maggie Cheung. Its most impressive feat for me is its achievement of a perfect balance of hyper-realism, formal experimentation, and highly developed characters who are easy to understand and care for immensely. No two of these things coexist easily, and three is impossible... except for in Irma Vep.
A movie that good will be impervious to having its effect lessened by pre-viewing information, but rather than any more details I'll restrict myself to repeating the one demand: seriously, don't wait. Get it tonight. Holy God, what a movie.
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