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View Full Version : Jauja (Lisandro Alonso)



Grouchy
01-07-2015, 04:53 PM
http://d1oi7t5trwfj5d.cloudfront.net/6e/7f/5d0320144624800daec50cd2ba8e/jauja.jpg

Grouchy
01-07-2015, 05:02 PM
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this. As a film student I'd seen excerpts of Lisandro Alonso's previous films (such as La Libertad and Los Muertos) and they seemed like the polar opposite of the type of cinema I enjoy.

This film, however, is an existential western tale shot in glorious colors and a strangely effective 4:3 aspect ratio. It still has a static, almost dead pacing, but it tells a suspenseful story that gradualy becomes completely surreal. Mortensen excels as the Dane lost in the wilderness of the Pampa. The rest of the cast doesn't fare so well, at least the Spanish language section of the film is kind of embarassing whenever there is any dialogue. But there are a couple of sequences so well directed that they are worth watching on their own. The final scene seems to make fun of the audience in its stubborn refusal to make any sense, but it's a haunting way to close a film that seems to purposely fall apart as it goes on.

So, overall, while I didn't love it (and I doubt that anyone could, it's just too hermetic), it was a different kind of head trip, engrossing despite the slow pacing and it made me want to watch Lisandro Alonso's films for the first time in my life.