#968: REYGADAS, Carlos: Japón (2002)

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REYGADAS, Carlos (Mexico)
Japón [2002]
Spine #968
Blu-ray


In this preternaturally assured feature debut by Carlos Reygadas, a man (Alejandro Ferretis) travels from Mexico City to an isolated village to commit suicide; once there, however, he meets a pious elderly woman (Magdalena Flores) whose quiet humanity incites a reawakening of his desires. Recruiting a cast of nonactors and filming in sublime 16 mm CinemaScope, Reygadas explores the harsh beauty of the Mexican countryside with earthy tactility, conjuring a psychic landscape where religion mingles with sex, life coexists with death, and the animal and spiritual sides of human experience become indistinguishable. A work of soaring ambition and starting visual poetry, Japón is an existential journey through uncharted cinematic territory that established the singular voice of its director.

134 minutes
Color
2.0 Surround
in Spanish
2:88:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2019
Director/Writer


Carlos Reygadas was 31 when he wrote and directed Japón.

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

 The Booklet

Twenty-eight page booklet featuring an essay by novelist Valeria Luiselli, behind-the-scenes photographs, and a selection of Reygadas’s original storyboards.

Commentary

None.

Conversation

Between Reygadas and filmmaker Amat Escalante.

Video diary

Shot by actor Ferretis during the film’s production.

Short film

Adulte, from 1998 by Reygadas.

Deleted scene

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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