Firstly, why haven't you posted this in General Discussion on the film board? I think it would benefit both this thread and the board in general if you did.
Secondly, I admire what you're doing by exploring these. I think a lot of these films are easily dismissed a lot of the time as just pornographic gimmicks, to see how far they can push boundaries. Sometimes, it may well be a valid criticism. But then you might find a film with real complexity and meaning to be found in it, not only in its subject matter but the manner in which it treats it. Anyone can make a film about someone eating shit, but to link it to political and social allegory takes a brave, confident and rare talent.
I'd recommend A Hole in My Heart by Lukas Moodysson. I found in it unfavourable comparisons to Godard's Weekend, with consumerism and capitalism attacked with the same ferocious energy but the gimmicky need to "shock". I say gimmicky because that was my criticism at the time, and it was an ill-informed one; I'd like to see it again.
Irréversible, like I said, would be in my top ten if I ever get round to doing that list.
Two core thoughts: Godard once said, "Cinema is Death", because the camera records someone in the process of dying. One take begins, one take ends, in between the subject has erroded, aged, moved towards its death. And of course, Noé's film begins with "Le temps détruit tout" - Time destroys everything. We're watching a film shot in single takes, with the story moving backwards and the narrative (as all narratives must do) moving forwards, towards its own ending, its own death, and the story's beginning, its birth. It's a fucking tragic film, absolutely devastating. I connect with it on so many levels - philosophically (fatalism, nihilism), thematically (violence, sexuality, masculinity), aesthetically (long-takes, incredible use of colour, and the sound design is probably the best since Eraserhead); the acting is tremendous, too - overlooked on a first watch, multiple revisits has taken real pleasure watching the relationship between three people - the lovers and their friend, with complexity added in that the friend is an ex-lover too. The conversation in the elevator, and then on the train, is subtly done and well-performed.
