Climax

A French modern dance troupe rehearsing for an American tour drink LSD-laced sangria in Irreversible director Gaspar Noé's demented, tripped-out Fame, depicting the glorious highs of musical frenzy and the drug-fuelled destructive comedown that follows. Beginning with the end credits, and with bold statements like "Life is a collective impossibility" flashed up every so often, the movie starts with snippets of the young company's auditions. Thereafter, a series of brilliantly choreographed dance routines devolve from thrilling, hypnotic delight into chilling, shocking debauchery thanks to cinematographer Benoît Debie's access-all-areas Steadicam. Based on an urban legend from 1996, it either pretentiously signifies multicultural societal breakdown or just a very bad trip at your local nightclub. Whatever the case, it's electrifying throughout, a visually arresting chaos, with classic Giorgio Moroder, Cerrone, Soft Cell, Daft Punk and Patrick Hernandez tracks fuelling the controversial disco inferno.