Director: Carlos Reygadas
Year Released: 2005
Rating: 2.5
Guilt over the kidnapping - and death - of a child (for reasons not made clear - money, probably) drives an overweight Security Officer insane; meanwhile, he's fascinated and repulsed by his boss' daughter, who is promiscuous and shows him plenty of physical affection. Part of me wants to hate this but the other part is fascinated by Reygadas' rejection of cinematic norms - his blend of the mundane and the sexually explicit is not unlike France's Bruno Dumont (this reminds me a little of L'humanite), and he has to be aware that it all comes across as preposterously arty and artificial (the actors are blatantly non-professional and their gestures are obviously pre-planned). If anything, his oddball rhythms and unorthodox scripting (there is none, actually) make it seem unique if off-putting - Reygadas doesn't seem to be a guy who cares if you think he's pretentious because he knows damn well he's pretentious. Will alienate most, and I confess I was making up jokes about it in my head while watching (i.e. "Look Mommy, I can do a tracking shot!" and "Let's get the audience to watch fatties fuck!"), but at least he's trying to develop a personal style. These days, I find myself appreciating that more and more (regardless of success or failure)....
