Post Tenebras Lux (Carlos Reygadas, 2012)

[nosy lena]

I look forward to the interlaced single-layer hardsubbed DVD in two years, then.

Blu-ray out July 22nd in the UK,

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=10991" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[spectre]

Any idea when this is going to get a festival run in Australia? It's been a year and there's been no sight of it. All of his films have been released on DVD over here, so it's not like there's going to be insufficient interest...

[warren oates]

Is Strand even releasing a region-A BD? I can only find a standard def video release upcoming on Amazon.com.

[Matt]

Probably not. Strand has released a whopping 3 BDs: 2 in 2011, 1 last year, and none so far this year. Their web store is still selling VHS.

[warren oates]

Well then, thanks to david's review, the region-B Blu-ray is a no-brainer.

[bdlover]

David, Kodak are still producing 35mm negative stocks, although perhaps not for much longer.

The UK BD looks very good too, and I am very taken with this film, possibly Reygadas' best.

[knives]

For those who speak spanish the Mexican release is very good. I think in some respects this is Reygadas' most interesting film especially when considering that very strange relationship he has with the Mexican left (something I've often deeply disagreed with him on).

[Grand Wazoo]

For those who speak spanish the Mexican release is very good. I think in some respects this is Reygadas' most interesting film especially when considering that very strange relationship he has with the Mexican left (something I've often deeply disagreed with him on).

Could you elaborate on this? I'm currently staying in Mexico and I'd love to know more.

I attended a screening of this at CCC, one of the major Mexican film schools, with Reygadas in attendance. After the film he did a q&a session with the audience of about 30 people for over 2 hours, answering every question with immensely articulate, in depth responses, even as some people kept prodding him for the meaning of certain scenes. He took it in stride and was amazingly gracious, not stopping until students refrained from raising their hands. He looked like he was going to collapse by the end (it was quite late). I've rarely seen a filmmaker care so much in regard to making sure everything possible was answered. Very impressive.

[knives]

I can't remember all the names involved with this because there are a lot, but essentially a lot of people in Mexico see Reygadas as a sort of bourgeois anarchist with a very poor sense of Mexico's history and class structure even though those things often make up his film (one way I've described it is as if Reygadas mixes and matches Mexico in the foreign quadrants of rich, poor, native, Europeanand toys with out expectations of those groups most obviously in Silent Light). One time actually I showed his episode of Revolution to a group of people which sparked a three day heated discussion for which some of the remnants still remain when I speak with some of these people. There's also a bit of distrust due to his foreign education which I think he very honestly confronts in this movie in a way I respect though some of my friends I don't think will ever like his work due to the political nature of them though even they respect him for saying anything.

[Sonmi451]

Just saw this tonight, and my initial response is awe. I was fairly certain that nothing could displace Upstream Color as my favorite film this year (in the U.S.), but I think this just has. Like Upstream there are clearly some Malickian influences (perhaps a theme with my top 3 then), but this is even more complex, and far more specific in its critique, so perhaps all the more interesting for it.

Spoiler

It is an incredibly dense and scathing critique of class and patriarchy. The film's finale is absolutely devastating, and is the most moving I can recall of the last decade. The rugby scenes are perfectly symbolic, since what sport better personifies class and patriarchy than rugby? If you view the final speech as the ruling class/patriarchy giving itself a pep talk, you see where Reygadas has gone. Just a brilliant film.

[liquid_city]

I loved it, but I need to get a few nitpicks out of the way first:

Spoiler

The animated devil thing at the beginning really took me out of the film immediately. I have a pet peeve with CGI and animated stuff like that in general I guess though, so I might be being unfair. The other thing I wanted to note was the cast. Their performances are absolutely fine, but I have to admit that most of them are normally pretty people (or at least average looking), and the non actors with bizarre faces that Reygadas has always had a brilliance at finding are somewhat lacking here. I miss them, for the way that Reygadas would pair these odd-looking, often dejected, downcast-looking people with his typically painterly, heavenly landscapes was paradise to me.

But both of these things aren't a big deal so OTHER THAN THAT: The somewhat "pinhole" method of filming reminded me a bit of what Sokurov does in films like Mother and Son, the way it's very nostalgic and human but sort of off-putting and strange all at once. In a lot of ways the way this film is shot doesn't resemble anything Reygadas has done in the past, but it's undoubtedly a work of his. We can see that from the first shot. For one thing, there is a lot go camera movement here, much of which looks handheld. It's gorgeous but from Silent Light to this is a strange transition for sure. Being shot in 4:3 made me a bit worried since Reygadas has become so adept at expressing himself via the lushness and brilliance of his widescreen compositions, but the film is just as radiantly, shimmeringly gorgeous as Silent Light so no problem there. While I don't know if it really eclipses Silent Light in terms of quality, I think this feels more like the masterpiece Reygadas has been trying to make for a long time so I think it might be "his" work of genius more than any of his others so far. It does feel like his most original film so far. Although people who claim that he just ripped Dreyer and Tarkovsky off for Silent Light are the worst and always get on my nerves so don't think I'm saying that.

[bdlover]

liquid_city, personally I view the absence of Reygadas' usual wide angle grotesquery as a benefit.

[warren oates]

I see absolutely nothing of... Tark in this film.

Really? Not even the huge conceptual influence of The Mirror?

[warren oates]

DVD Beaver on Strand's Blu-ray. Out tomorrow with what seems, surprisingly, is a better picture but slightly worse sound and, as expected from Strand, non-removable subtitles.

[Matt]

It's on Netflix if anyone wants to check it out without commitment.

[warren oates]

Are you talking about the film or this particular Strand Region-A Blu-ray? Which, like many other art film Blu-rays on Netflix, is listed as hypothetically available until the moment you attempt to add it to your queue, at which point the availability date reverts to "unknown."

[Matt]

Sorry, the film itself.

[warren oates]

Weirdly uninformative Blu-ray.com review of the Strand Blu-ray. G-d only knows why they didn't assign this one to Svet or even bother to link it to his relative rave review of the Region-B disc.

[rohming]

I like to think I have a decently high tolerance for beautiful, evocative filmmaking that shirks conventions--I mean, Tarkovsky is my favorite filmmaker of all time--but fifteen minutes into this I was completely lost and couldn't find a point of reference to focus my attention or digestion of the movie on. So I haven't finished it yet, but it sounds like I need to.

[knives]

You'll probably be as lost by that end. It's definitely weird and based in some really specific stuff with religion in Mexico (I had to ask a lot of friends to get everything).

[swo17]

I think there's also a lot of very personal (and inherently impenetrable) stuff in there about the inner struggle between good and evil. (And the rugby scenes are also presumably personal to the director, given that he lived in England as a child.) It resonated strongly with me in that respect, though not in a way that's easy to put into words. In particular, I was reminded of the scripture "If thy hand offend thee, cut it off..."

[knives]

No doubt, I was only referring to some of the stranger things like the minotaur and decapitation.

[Zot!]

Minotaur? You mean the "devil"?

[knives]

Yes.

[rohming]

I was drawn in by that opening sequence. The way the storm and night comes on is just beautifully done, and I was dreading that the dogs were gonna start eating that little kid or something. That was very unsettling.

Then the animated devil shows up and I'm confused, but okay, trying to roll with it.

Then it jumps to the guy out in the woods with the huge chainsaw and at this point I'm just having a lot of trouble trying to find a way to anchor my viewing experience.

Like I said, I know I need to give it more of a shot, sounds like a semblance of meaning or at least emotional resonance will accumulate as the imagery does.