Silent Light
2007 ‘Stellet Licht’ Directed by Carlos Reygadas
Synopsis
Johan and his family are Mennonites from the north of Mexico. Against the law of God and Man, Johan falls in love with another woman.
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Day 2. 5th Film, 4th Country: Mexico
of the "May: 30 Days, 30 Countries" Challenge.Let me start with a WOW and then Add another WOW and the third WOW!
This was amazing. It is not just a homage to Dreyer, it is as if Dreyer had woken up from the grave (ala Ordet) and made one more film. Even though most of the style and subject matters are from Ordet and Gertrud, it never feels like plagiarism or a recycle of those films.
The film takes place in Mexico but it is in Plautdietsch, a dialect spoken by over 300,000 Mennonites, most notably in the Latin American countries of Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Honduras, Belize, and Argentina,…
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Carlos Reygadas' Silent Light opens with a full five-minute unbroken shot of the sun rising in a time lapse. I am aware that I'm prone to hyperbole often, but it is one of the most beautiful things I have seen in a film, and viewing it in the darkness late at night I felt tears welling up at the sheer wonder of this cinematic collision of beautiful framing and warming lighting. It is an opening shot of enviable perfection.
The film is the story of a devoutly religious, married man whose dedication to God is rendered distraught and paralysed by his passionate affair with a younger woman (who at times looks intriguingly similar to his wife) with whom he has…
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Beautiful, poetic examination of simple human desire as a test of faith. I could easily empty the chamber of hundred dollar words to describe this film's impact on me, but I will try to show the same kind of restraint as Reygadas out of respect for the magnificent work he has given us. It is a shame that more people have not seen this, and it definitely would be best experienced on a big screen, but as I sit pondering it hours afterward, I am merely grateful to have seen it at all. Very little happens, in the traditional movie sense, and very little is said, but it's magic lies for me in the spaces between the words and actions,…
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Fuck, why didn't I see this on the big screen. Visually astounding. A tale of family and affairs and death. Yet, for all its beauty and drama, it never forgets that it is about a fundamentally quiet group of people. Everything is subtly portrayed and the film slows its pace to let you really live in the film. A little bit of a mystical touch at the end put it firmly up my alley.
Now I know to never miss one of this guy's films on the big screen, Good Christ.
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Day 2. 5th Film, 4th Country: Mexico
of the "May: 30 Days, 30 Countries" Challenge.Let me start with a WOW and then Add another WOW and the third WOW!
This was amazing. It is not just a homage to Dreyer, it is as if Dreyer had woken up from the grave (ala Ordet) and made one more film. Even though most of the style and subject matters are from Ordet and Gertrud, it never feels like plagiarism or a recycle of those films.
The film takes place in Mexico but it is in Plautdietsch, a dialect spoken by over 300,000 Mennonites, most notably in the Latin American countries of Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Honduras, Belize, and Argentina,…
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One of the best opening shots in the history of cinema. Beautiful, amazing... and it gets even better from there. Reygadas gives a master class in the use of the camera.
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In a Mennonite community in Mexico a married man is having an affair and quite possible falling in love. Carlos Reygadas trying a little to hard to channel the style of Bergman & Dreyer instead of focusing more on the substance of the story.
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A brilliantly meticulous film filled wall-to-wall with absolutely stunning shots, mindful camera placements, and an attention to quiet detail. A true film, one that impacts emotions through images and editing, as much as through story and dialogue. It's cinematic in scope, as well, capturing nature, the presence of God and the Devil, forgiveness, grace, peace, resurrection (both figurative and literal) in a community and culture that most people don't even know exists. I mean, this is just an excellent film that, despite its pace, doesn't waste a single moment.
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I’ve been meaning to catch up on the films of this Carlos Reygadas guy for a while, and I’ve got to say, I found this film pretty impressive. Reygadas is a Mexican director, but his style is pretty far removed from the social realist cinema we usually see coming out of that country. His style is closer to what we’d expect from someone like Nuri Bilge Ceylan or Apichatpong Weerasethakul; you know, slow contemplative films where people speak quietly. This one is especially ethereal because it’s set in a Mennonite community outside of Mexico City and the spoken language through much of the film is something called Plautdietsch. This is clearly the work of an ambitious auteur and it even goes so far as to open up on a sunrise and close on a sunset. Definitely not a film for the impatient, but it’s a promising work from a promising director.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Fue la película de la primer cita con mi futura esposa, y sigo recibiendo los dividendos :)
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Carlos Reygadas' Silent Light opens with a full five-minute unbroken shot of the sun rising in a time lapse. I am aware that I'm prone to hyperbole often, but it is one of the most beautiful things I have seen in a film, and viewing it in the darkness late at night I felt tears welling up at the sheer wonder of this cinematic collision of beautiful framing and warming lighting. It is an opening shot of enviable perfection.
The film is the story of a devoutly religious, married man whose dedication to God is rendered distraught and paralysed by his passionate affair with a younger woman (who at times looks intriguingly similar to his wife) with whom he has…