Michelle Ridley
The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
Wyatt
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Staci Frederick
Blistering performances.
briandoering86
An urban family, having moved to the countryside of Mexico, experiences raw drama and ambiguous fantasy in this cinematically fresh and rewarding film by Reygadas. The cinematography is ethereal and at times haunting when combined with such unsettling imagery. That's not to say the films imagery is horrifying in itself. The imagery of Post Tenebras Lux is unsettling in that it's picturesque and lush while also being new and confounding. This is partially due to it's hypnotic, almost tunnel vision take on the 4:3 ratio. This way of presenting the story only adds to it's mysterious nature. The narrative in itself is overtly expressionist as it's partial auto-biographical and moves with fluidity removed from reasoning. It's a film that's entrancing and bewildering at the same time - an atmosphere that just seems to work. It certainly worked to make one of the most original films of the year.
Red-125
Post Tenebras Lux (2012) is a Mexican film written and directed by Carlos Reygadas. It stars Adolfo Jiménez Castro as Juan, a sophisticated and wealthy man who lives with his wife Natalia (Nathalia Acevedo) and children is a rural area of Mexico. The movie contains bizarre elements. Many bizarre elements. Bizarre elements are not necessarily out of place in a movie, but none of these elements made sense to me. I couldn't see how they fit into any cohesive directorial vision. For example, every so often the movie cuts to a scene of English schoolboys playing rugby. This must be highly symbolic. My question is, Symbolic of what?At one point Juan watches while Natalia has sex with a stranger in a steam bath. Ms. Acevedo is very beautiful. (In fact, an older woman who is facilitating the event keeps telling her how beautiful she is.) So, the scene has its merits in the visual sense. However, in terms of plot, the scene makes no sense, especially because at that point everyone is speaking French. (There is one really positive aspect to this part of the movie. It allows the reviewer to point out that this was a truly steamy sex scene.)Director Reygadas won the Best Director Award at Cannes for this movie. The jury must still be laughing.
macrol
Reygadas new film takes a very personal perspective on the preoccupations that have been haunting him in his earlier movies. If I try to put them in phrases: How can one live with the contradictions of life without destroying yourself and others? How are we close to others, the ones that are less privileged,our partners, our children? The answer given by this tenebrous movie is not encouraging considering the fate of the main character. In the first scene a little girl (Reygadas daughter) plays on a wet field where cows, horses and dogs are romping. In the background we can hear thunder and it is getting dark. It is a threatening atmosphere but also a very lively one. The child is full of joy but at the same time the atmosphere is somber. Maybe the author is saying: The life of my child starts in a mysterious and majestic nature. Where will it lead and what is my part in it? Many scenes do not fit in a sequence, but this gives a dreamlike undertone to the movie which is underlined by the distortion to the edge of the image which is annoying at the beginning but fits very well to the overall atmosphere. A devilish and unhurried image appears in the next scene and made me think: The devil is at work and it takes its time. As a child one observes impartially what happens in the adult world. The devil disappears into the chamber of the sleeping parents closing the door to the childish curiosity and getting to work on the sleeping couple with his toolbox. Juan the father and main character is worried about his surroundings and himself and he experiments approaching the inhabitants of the little town where he lives in a stately house. He attends the AA meetings where he also meets seven his handyman at home who will later rob his house and put an end to his life. Nature is impressive but full of violence. Trees are cut in retaliation for family feuds. Dogs that accompany our lives are at the same time violently mistreated. The relation to his wife Natalia is marked with contradiction, by tenderness, violence and distance. He tries to stimulate desire in both with strong erotic but personal words. She plays Neil Youngs "Its a dream" while he dies after saying a few poetic last words. Life is an intense dream for Reygadas and he shares his dreams with very impressive and poetic language.
prelude_e_n_i_g_m_a
Post Tenebras Lux and TO THE WONDER were my favorite films at Toronto's Festival in 2012. The plot description you get here on IMDb is as good as I could do so I won't bother with that. This film is like a cross between Malick and Lynch. It's beautiful, dark, bizarre and dreamy... and non-linear to add to the cryptic puzzle. Like Malick, the beautiful shots are about enough to hook you in... assuming you know how to experience a movie, not just watch what a studio spoon feeds you. Like Lynch, the dark underbelly of humanity is lurking beneath in a surreal fashion. Subconscious here we come! My favorite place to be! By the way, Reygadas won Best Director at Cannes for this. Now I hope I've added to the mystery, and didn't solve any of it!
