A masterpiece.
I haven't seen Silent Light - yet - but I just got back from Carlos Reygadas' latest film and I cannot say enough good things about it. First, it touches on so many issues that people have. This film may be set in Mexico, but it deeply touches on the human condition through and through. Look at how it addresses child molestation and incest without making that its topic, or how it shows a man mercilessly beating his dog to show how frustrated he is in life. There isn't much of a plot, but the film is about a family in and of itself - as well as partially the story of a recovering alcoholic. Those stories collide at some point, however you don't think anything like that will happen because the alcoholic's life is, in and of itself fascinating and has a lot to do with the lost, single man - so not only is this film about loneliness in marriage, but also loneliness in general.
At some point toward the end a dying man tells us he sees love after a life of struggle - for him, love is to appreciate all sounds, all people, all things; a wheel, the obtrusive music coming in from somewhere else, the beautiful daces you see every day - which I find to be a beautiful sentiment in every way. The fact that it doesn't end that way is even nicer. Better still, it is followed up with a scene you will never forever. It has a lot to say and does so without meanness, judgment, confusion, anything. Everything comes together. If you watch it and are confused, stop thinking about it - it is confusing, as the director has elaborately constructed the film to be a cinematic poem, if you will. It isn't something to think about, but unlike most films people tell you not to think about, it is logical, harmonious and conclusive by the end. You will understand it all and it will, hopefully, all resonate with you as it did with me.
It explains life without judgment so modestly that it has to be the work of a mastermind. To actually review this film would be explaining it all - because you really can't review it. It's a beautiful work that has to be seen to be appreciated. It's my favorite film of 2012.
Amazing acting, amazing ideas, amazing vision - bold, audacious, yet also quiet and sincere. It's really something. His work ranks with Malick's greatest achievements in "tonal cinema" - but also, I don't know. I haven't seen someone confront deep sexual sadness the way Reygadas has and that is something, especially since it isn't a film about sex. It shows you the world, the way people view sex, a lonely housewife, why she is lonely, why her husband is lonely, and before that, a sad and decrepit, isolating, but also pleasurable sexual fantasy she has involving herself (and her husband) at some steamy orgy building that is both sad and sexual. You get this AMAZING cinematic moment of a woman insecurely walking through this place you've never seen, full of sweaty people wanting to fill holes, any holes, male or female, and then her being filled and crying from the pleasure, and then you see that she is a lonely housewife, like thirty minutes later - and then, an hour later, a conversation between her and her husband illustrating why they are lonely together. It is a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant film - hopelessly cinematic and endlessly insightful. You will be a happier and freer person after watching this one.
"Lets shag ass" - Royal