"You’ve finally stashed the video Yule log back in its corner of the DVD cabinet. So here’s something else to supply your flat screen with mesmerizing viewing for a while: 'Enter the Void’ (2010), French filmmaker Gaspar Noé’s sprawling, psychedelic meditation on hellish living, violent death, and the mysteries of reincarnation. On paper, Noé ('Irreversible’) lays out a story that’s actually only a slightly exotic twist on the familiar. Drug-dealing cipher Oscar (American newcomer Nathaniel Brown) plies his trade in neon-streaked Tokyo, and distractedly worries about his younger sister, Linda (Paz de la Huerta, “Boardwalk Empire’’), who’s fallen into a life of stripping since coming to stay with him. The uniqueness is in the visuals, as everything we see is from Oscar’s vantage point — directly in our sightline, after he’s been shot and embarks on a meandering out-of-body experience. As the soundtrack drones and whooshes, Oscar’s ethereal consciousness roams everywhere: off to kaleidoscopically hallucinatory realms, into the squishy middle of all manner of sexual encounters, back to the horrific accident that shaped his childhood, and even into — be warned — an abortion in progress. The film’s unpredictable element isn’t where Oscar is ultimately headed — the reincarnation theme is stated pretty flatly — but how he’ll get there, and how far Noé will go along the way. Extras: The supplements come with headings such as 'Vortex’ and 'DMT,’ offering mainline shots of the laser-show stuff for those who’d prefer to bypass the drama. (IFC Films, $24.98; Blu-ray, $29.98)."
