Special Guests 2007
Carlos Reygadas
The boldest and most controversial figure of the new wave of Mexican Filmmakers, Carlos Reygadas has, with just three feature films to his name, established an entirely new direction in Mexican cinema. Characterized by a highly contemplative camera, and a deftly assembled soundtrack, his films evoke uncanny atmospheres and produce images that penetrate with visceral force. Stunning views of the Mexican countryside and urbanscape are interspersed with unsightly yet strangely aestheticized shots of unconventional bodies engaging in almost mechanical sex acts. Intimacy, distilled from the crude choreography of bodies, and the drama of human relationships, finds itself projected onto landscapes, which, through calculated camera movements, acquire a quasi-spiritual magnetism.
Reygadas eschews conventionality, narrative formulas, and instead crafts his features through a series of situations, ambiance and unanchored affect are the substance of his visual discourse, deployed to convey a state of mind rather than remaining faithful to a storyline. The result is a somewhat disparate, enigmatic work that draws its force from an apparent absence of motivation. One cannot sink too comfortably into the seat, but must remain at the mercy of the image. Seducing critics and audiences worldwide with his fiercely idiosyncratic style, Reygadas has become a guru of bravura filmmaking.
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