Silent Light

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Kevin L That old dog Johan was past the time of chasing around younger skirts. Not to mention he had a very loving wife who bore him six or seven children. That's my first impression from "Silent Light". The other is, these are some of the saddest people I've ever seen. Not sure if it's just an innate quality of their social norms, or it's more cultural with the religious emphasis against showing too much joy. Either way, I won't be going there on holiday. Mixed bag as far as acting. I thought the performances by both Miriam Toews and Maria Pankratz was impressive and held much of the story line together. It's clear these were not actors, but it worked pretty well overall due to the better performances, the writing and the directing by Carlos Reygadas. Nice shot of the old window sill outside of the room where Esther was. And the next one to outside the building the family were in at the end with the fitting sounds of a mourning dove. But for me, there were overly long shots and too much of an oppressive sadness about it all. Gimme more of the kids, happy at the swimming hole. Show me more of the joy of Johan and Marianne if it's really love between them. Just angst and guilt as a pervasive presence is a tough watch for 120+ min. 3.2 stars Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 11/18/24 Full Review DayOld T Mega-boring. This was a 2 hour 15 minute movie that could have been condensed to 40 minutes had the editor cut all of the long, meaningless, boring shots--especially the opening sequence. I knitted, ironed and ate for the first hour, then FF'ed through the rest and missed nothing. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 08/02/23 Full Review Audience Member An hypnotic spell full of magic, passion and humanity. Probably best Carlos Reygadas' film and, of course, one of the best films of last decade. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review raphael g Slow, spellbinding masterpiece. The beginning and the ending scenes are so beautifully introspective and poetic. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Have watched this movie using boxxy software . This movie is so emotionally powerful, even without a music score. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member At first, I found the film almost unbearably slow. Its depiction of a Mennonite farm family in Mexico (speaking an odd-sounding German hybrid) was strong on observational detail but rather weak on narrative tension. Sure, the protagonist, Johan (nonprofessional lead actor Cornelio Wall), had let it be known that he was in love with someone other than his wife and that he had told his wife (but not his six or seven children), so this should have created some momentum. But even when he makes contact with his mistress Marianne and the situation becomes more palpable, the acting is so low-key (despite the crying) that it barely creates a ripple. However, slowly slowly, about an hour in, that feeling of transcendence so familiar from other slow movies, such as those by Carl Theodor Dreyer or Bela Tarr, started to kick in. A long car ride with wife Esther across a beautiful cloudy Mexican landscape that suddenly turns to drenching rain is the opportunity for that subdued emotion to break free, although director Carlos Reygadas still keeps things relatively restrained (it is the contrast between the stillness of everything and the dramatic nature of the events that heightens the feelings evoked in the viewer). Then, as if to acknowledge his influences and to remind us that we are focused on a religious community dealing with transgression, Reygadas explicitly references Dreyer's Ordet (1955). To say that he steals the epiphany from the earlier film might not be too far wrong but the context is so dissimilar as to make this more of a repurposing than a plagiarism. Thinking back then, you can see how some of the camera moves and other technical details of the film also evoke the Danish master -- but you need to put in the effort in order to secure this pay-off. And finally, we are left to ponder whether some sort of spiritual alchemy has taken place, some mea culpa that secures forgiveness and, yes, transcendence. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Silent Light

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