Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Amores perros” and Alfonso Cuaron’s “Y tu Mama Tambien” showcased an intense, confident and naturalistic brand of Mexican art cinema. “Japon,” a striking first feature by Carlos Reygadas, works in a wholly different artistic register, to an equally thrilling and sensational result.
From the impressionistic opening shots that shift from urban Mexico City to the desolate, beautiful open spaces of the Sierra Tarahumara canyon, Reygadas establishes a mournful tone suggesting the disparate influences of Andrei Tarkovsky, Werner Herzog and John Ford.
This movie is more abstract and allegorical than anything by Ford, but this story of a quiet, melancholy man (Alejandro Ferretis) with an unknown past who wants to kill himself could frame any number of classic Westerns.
Reygadas and his excellent cinematographer, Diego Martinez Vignatti, shot this film mostly in 16 mm, creating a bleached stylization, rough grain and unstable physical textures. Whether drawn to the ravishing physical environment or the defeated, sun-drenched faces of the characters–non-actors all–“Japon” gives weight and substance to the movie’s philosophical concerns.
The man, whose name is never revealed, encounters hunters at the start of the film and casually announces his intentions to commit suicide. They drive him to a sparsely populated village at the lower edge of the canyon. The handsome man, arthritic and withdrawn, requires a cane to walk. Among his few possessions are a Walkman that allows him to listen to Bach, Shostakovich and Arvo Part, and a German pistol. Sheltered in a barn by an Indian widow named Ascen (Magdalena Flores), the man prepares for his final actions: idling, playing with his gun, and imagining the end of his life.
Like Iranian Abbas Kiarostami’s “Taste of Cherry,” a movie which also deals with suicide, Reygadas refuses to provide any explanation for his protagonist’s despondency. That only heightens the movie’s mystery and beauty that, in tandem with the rapturous, unbroken shots, produces raw sensation and a dense, hypnotic rhythm.
Starting with an erotic reverie (the movie’s only sequence shot in 35 mm), the man undergoes a subtle transformation that profoundly changes his relationship with Ascen. He’s suddenly incapable of killing himself, because of his deepening attraction to the weathered, expressive older woman. He becomes protective of Ascen when he learns her nephew plans to take possession of her land. Reygadas takes a great leap here, and it is consistent with the movie’s daring reach that this interaction not only distills complex emotions, but mirrors the movie’s remarkable visuals.
“Japon” has some dead moments, and the director struggles to sustain the film over two-plus hours. Still, it is the work of a remarkable new talent. By the movie’s towering, final tracking shot, this imaginative, dazzling film achieves distinction.
`Japon’
(star)(star)(star)1/2
Directed, written and produced by Carlos Reygadas; produced by Carlos Serrano Azcona; photographed by Diego Martinez Vignatti; edited by Carlos Serrano Azcona, Daniel Melguizo and David Torres; sound by Gilles Laurent; set design by Alejandro Reygadas; production managed by Gerardo Tagle; released by Vitagraph Pictures; opens Friday at Facets Multimedia, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. In Spanish with English subtitles. Running time: 2:12. No MPAA rating (violence, language, nudity, sexuality, adult situations).
The man ……………. Alejandro Ferretis
Ascen ……………… Magdalena Flores
Sabina …………….. Yolanda Villa
Juan Luis ………….. Martin Serrano
