Popular reviews

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  Review by pirateneckbeard ★★★½

  What a dry harsh coming of age film that feels like you can feel the cold wind in this movie as it blows through your bones. The material works in tandem with these beautifully pensive shots as we see this boy trying to parse the information that's giving and what he can deduce. Some solid performances especially from our lead Hatzín Oscar Navarrete(Hatzin) who gives a frail engaging portrayal here. It doesn't rely on much dialogue and chooses to focus on emoting but does give a cathartic ending and is worth the watch. I was struck by the changing of how we see certain characters change with there understanding and whether our lead will bend in acceptance or break away. A solid film and I'm glad I checked it out.

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  Review by MUBI 1

  Venezuela’s submission to the Oscars® this year, Lorenzo Vigas’s gripping thriller beats with a politically conscious heart. Informed by the plight of migrant workers in Mexico, the central mystery of mistaken identity is shatteringly poignant, capturing the human cost when lives become disposable.

  Exclusively now showing (almost) globally here. A MUBI Release.

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  Review by BeBraveMorvern ★★★★½

  A muted and still brutal coming-of-age tale from writer-director Lorenzo Vigas. He crafts it with great intimacy, even as he incorporates themes as expansive as capitalism and as mythic as father figures. 

  The film never strays from its young protagonist, who’s played by first-time actor Hatzín Navarrete. His face commands the screen even as he seems to do little with it. As his situation grows increasingly dangerous and emotionally complicated, he’s enigmatic but not inexpressive; he telegraphs small epiphanies and impending actions, and somehow tension builds from just that. There’s no score and nothing showy about the camerawork. 

  It’s shot by Sergio Armstrong, who showed tremendous range and sensitivity on Pablo Larraín’s Ema and Post Mortem. His frames here mostly feel lonely. In long shots, Hatzín looks lost amid the desert terrain; closer, he seems equally adrift in a living room or the passenger seat of a truck.

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  Review by Calvin Kemph 🤠 ★★★

  Venezuela‘s International entry for this awards season. I quite like the most quiet moments, where the film strips back any superfluous layer and just allows us to feel desolate and alone in the desert, just a boy and a box, but more, the story of a whole migrant community. It doesn’t amaze at anything but the restraint and slow-cooked development is admirable.

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  Review by mariomovieboy ★★★★

  #PFF31, film 2

  Smart, clever multilayered story that keeps you guessing about the relationship of the two main characters. Particularly good is Hatzin Navarrete giving a mostly intense and internalized performance as the young man we follow trying to reconcile his daddy issues. As the film plays against a backdrop of the injustice of cheap labor workers, the central tension builds to a powerful and thoughtful climax.

  Venezuela’s submission for this year’s 95th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film.

  Philadelphia Film Festival
  #filmadelphia

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  Review by Matias Torregrosa ★★★½ 1

  La verdad no comprendo porque la han calificado tan bajo en esta app.
  El crimen en México no es una novedad en el cine nacional, sin embargo, La Caja logra tocar temas delicadísimos de nuestro país y en un mundo que casi no ha sido hablado (sino es que no se ha hablado en lo absoluto).

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  Review by 더 프 ★★★★★

  Starts with a bang and ends with a whimper, going full circle to a very Western pattern of search and coming-of-age. This film is a great pair and an unexpectedly strong match to Julia Ducournau's Titane— on its daddy issues, its desire to connect to someone, the longing for the paternal model in a world that crushes dreams for gender roles imposed by society, and the forging of identities and illusions of bond and love. We choose the father we think we deserve. A

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  Review by Jak-Luke Sharp ★★★

  VENICE 2021 - FIRST LOOK

  Tentative and tender, but only a surface-level approach to this story is examined. What it does leave to be interpreted feels almost as if it is the last thing that would truly matter with concrete or inspired interpretation. Nevertheless, La Caja is superbly shot, paced well and offers an emotional look into the sins of the father and the sins of the son. 

  67

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  Review by Davide Colli ★★ 8

  Vigas e Franco uomini più dannosi di Venezia 78

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  Review by Diegoberto ★★★★

  Así como "El Norte sobre el Vacío", "La Caja" se adentra en las vidas de la gente ordinaria para mostrar cómo la violencia los afecta psicológica o moralmente.

  Lorenzo Vigas nos presenta un desolador relato sobre un niño cuyo padre fue encontrado en una fosa común. Después de recuperar sus restos, se topa con un hombre que se parece a él, y de ahí el director y coguionista va desdoblando un misterio y una trágica verdad que deja al descubierto una sociedad decadente en la que solo puedes ser víctima o victimario.

  La película puede verse como una pieza acompañante de "Sin Señas Particulares", pues ambas esconden esa cruda verdad de la que hablaba; si bien la otra es superior,…

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  Review by Nicolò Grasso

  Quick notes from Venice: complex and deeply ambiguous film from Vigas, beautifully shot and with terrific central performances. It's opaque storytelling won't resonate with many, but I personally enjoyed this more than the already solid From Afar. Sometimes the past is best left alone.

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  Review by Timmy Lee ★★

  As much as I appreciate my boss for sending me my first ever screener for a festival indie film, I sincerely hope that he sends me much better movies because wow was this an absolute snooze. There’s nothing technically or inherently wrong with the film (in fact if anything the cinematography is pretty nice), but it’s just so bland and unengaging that I was literally having trouble staying awake. A lot of the acting from the main kid was so inconsistent that I couldn’t tell half the time if it was intentional or if he’s just bad at acting. I think there’s a good story in here somewhere, but as of right now, this literally felt like a cookie cutter bland by the numbers Oscar bait movie