Silent Light (Stellet Licht)***
Carlos Reygadas, 2007
Mexico
@ Frederick P. Rose Hall (New York Film Festival)
At times the framing and the long shots almost struck me as so conspicuous that they unbalanced the movie, but I suspect that had to do with my seat. (Near the lower left corner of the screen which was so large that it seemed a little distorted from my vantage point.) Though there isn't an exact correspondence, it's interesting how the sun figures as a kind of manifestation of God's presence. The natural elements are always very present: the clouds, the hills, the dust from the dirt road.
I'm intrigued by the idea of farms as visually rich settings for contemplative, "syrup-paced" art films like this (that pejorative is from The Onion AV Club), which of course brings Satantango to mind. Most of the time people talk about cinema as a largely urban art form, based on the particular kind of social dynamics you find in cities. There was even some ill-informed guy who attempted to ask why there weren't any urban scenes, although it's hard to see how that would make sense in a nature-centered film about an unworldly community of Mennonite farmers.
I had an idea after watching Fargo last month about a movie with similarities to this one and Satantango, Gus van Sant's Elephant and especially Last Days, and various other influences, with a couple of deadbeats on a rundown farm, with the present shot in black and white and recurring scenes, shot in color, of a more productive past on the same property. The soundtrack would be entirely diegetic, either performed or played on a radio, and would feature far too much pedal steel guitar.
The guy standing in front of me at the box office was perusing the entire festival schedule mentioning titles to the attendant as he found screenings he liked. He had already started when I got there and probably took ten more minutes to finish. The whole affair seemed pretty ostentatious to me, from the ticket prices to the people attending to the venue (inside the Time Warner building), etc. That's kind of sad in my opinion because the programmers and the films are really good, and it seems like the whole deal caters directly to residents of the Upper West Side rather than anyone who not already into these sorts of movies.
Quote from the women behind me: "Gus van Sant… where have I heard that name before?" Their conversation made me kind of wonder how they wound up paying twenty bucks for something like Silent Light in the first place.
See also: IMDb
Carlos Reygadas, 2007
Mexico
@ Frederick P. Rose Hall (New York Film Festival)
At times the framing and the long shots almost struck me as so conspicuous that they unbalanced the movie, but I suspect that had to do with my seat. (Near the lower left corner of the screen which was so large that it seemed a little distorted from my vantage point.) Though there isn't an exact correspondence, it's interesting how the sun figures as a kind of manifestation of God's presence. The natural elements are always very present: the clouds, the hills, the dust from the dirt road.
I'm intrigued by the idea of farms as visually rich settings for contemplative, "syrup-paced" art films like this (that pejorative is from The Onion AV Club), which of course brings Satantango to mind. Most of the time people talk about cinema as a largely urban art form, based on the particular kind of social dynamics you find in cities. There was even some ill-informed guy who attempted to ask why there weren't any urban scenes, although it's hard to see how that would make sense in a nature-centered film about an unworldly community of Mennonite farmers.
I had an idea after watching Fargo last month about a movie with similarities to this one and Satantango, Gus van Sant's Elephant and especially Last Days, and various other influences, with a couple of deadbeats on a rundown farm, with the present shot in black and white and recurring scenes, shot in color, of a more productive past on the same property. The soundtrack would be entirely diegetic, either performed or played on a radio, and would feature far too much pedal steel guitar.
The guy standing in front of me at the box office was perusing the entire festival schedule mentioning titles to the attendant as he found screenings he liked. He had already started when I got there and probably took ten more minutes to finish. The whole affair seemed pretty ostentatious to me, from the ticket prices to the people attending to the venue (inside the Time Warner building), etc. That's kind of sad in my opinion because the programmers and the films are really good, and it seems like the whole deal caters directly to residents of the Upper West Side rather than anyone who not already into these sorts of movies.
Quote from the women behind me: "Gus van Sant… where have I heard that name before?" Their conversation made me kind of wonder how they wound up paying twenty bucks for something like Silent Light in the first place.
See also: IMDb
Labels: 2007, 3 Stars, Carlos Reygadas, Mexico
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