Noe!

While certainly less visceral than Noe's criminally intense Irreversible, Seul Contre Tous is nevertheless painfully engaging. Noe is brash and unafraid of taboo, and is audacious enough to put a warning on the screen in giant block text: YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS TO LEAVE THE THEATER before dragging us further into his deranged butcher's depravity.

Strangely, by the time he warns us it's already too late, because the worst has happened. Noe's first film is more interesting than Irreversible because there's some humor here--sick humor to be sure, but the butcher's thoughts are as intricate and surprisingly funny at times as those of Dostoevsky's Underground Man. Irrervrsible is completely devoid of joy, fun, or humor.

At least I thought so. I strongly caution you against I Stand Alone or Irreversible unless you're a sick bastard like me. If you're up to them, though, these are challenging, technically superior films.