I have to appreciate the sheer strangeness of this movie, even if I'm not sure I actually enjoyed it. I'm not even sure it was meant to be enjoyed.
While not especially gory by the standards of this type of film, "The Voices" includes some imagery that I found profoundly disturbing - chiefly those plastic containers Ryan Reynolds so carefully stacks in his apartment. I almost turned the thing off at that point. But I stuck with it, and I guess I'm glad I did, though I could have done without the goofy, over-the-top sequence that plays under the closing credits.
Many others have commented on the clever shifts and pointed contrasts between Reynolds' delusional world view and the ugly reality of his circumstances. What I've found interesting is trying to determine just where his hallucinations end.
At one point, he sees a news report that his first victim's body has been found in the woods. The end of the report is clearly hallucinated; the sheriff directly addresses Reynolds through the TV. But when I thought about it afterward, it hit me that the entire news story, from start to finish, must be a hallucination. Reynolds did not leave the body in the woods, so it could not have been found there. All the stuff about the police searching for a serial killer is Reynolds' fantasy. (In fact, there's little indication anyone is even concerned about the missing woman.)
Later, after Reynolds has killed two women, one of his' female coworkers comes to check on him. Naturally he kills her, too. I took this to be a real event. But now I have to wonder if the entire incident happened only in his mind. After all, it makes no sense for the coworker to show up at his place; she already knows that two of her colleagues are missing and that Reynolds may be mentally disturbed. So does she actually go there? Or does he just imagine the third murder? How much of what happens on screen ever "really" happens at all?
Any film that makes you dwell on these questions for a couple of days is worth a watch - if you have the stomach for it. (Those plastic containers ...) Whether it's a "good movie" or not is hard to say, but it does stay with you.
While not especially gory by the standards of this type of film, "The Voices" includes some imagery that I found profoundly disturbing - chiefly those plastic containers Ryan Reynolds so carefully stacks in his apartment. I almost turned the thing off at that point. But I stuck with it, and I guess I'm glad I did, though I could have done without the goofy, over-the-top sequence that plays under the closing credits.
Many others have commented on the clever shifts and pointed contrasts between Reynolds' delusional world view and the ugly reality of his circumstances. What I've found interesting is trying to determine just where his hallucinations end.
At one point, he sees a news report that his first victim's body has been found in the woods. The end of the report is clearly hallucinated; the sheriff directly addresses Reynolds through the TV. But when I thought about it afterward, it hit me that the entire news story, from start to finish, must be a hallucination. Reynolds did not leave the body in the woods, so it could not have been found there. All the stuff about the police searching for a serial killer is Reynolds' fantasy. (In fact, there's little indication anyone is even concerned about the missing woman.)
Later, after Reynolds has killed two women, one of his' female coworkers comes to check on him. Naturally he kills her, too. I took this to be a real event. But now I have to wonder if the entire incident happened only in his mind. After all, it makes no sense for the coworker to show up at his place; she already knows that two of her colleagues are missing and that Reynolds may be mentally disturbed. So does she actually go there? Or does he just imagine the third murder? How much of what happens on screen ever "really" happens at all?
Any film that makes you dwell on these questions for a couple of days is worth a watch - if you have the stomach for it. (Those plastic containers ...) Whether it's a "good movie" or not is hard to say, but it does stay with you.