"Japon", Carlos Reygadas' startling directorial debut is a mysterious film that will divide audiences. Mr. Reygadas, working with the talented cinematographer, Diego Martinez Vignatti, takes us along for a ride to an unknown part of Mexico where he sets this complex tale about a man at a crossroad of his life. Shot entirely on location in the state of Hidalgo, "Japon" gives us a bird's eye view of life in those forgotten areas where time seems to stand still forever.
The man at the center of the story wants to commits suicide. For that, he has chosen going back to this desolate part of the country where he wants to do himself in. He suddenly discovers there is a life out there he didn't even know existed. When he befriends the older woman, Ascen, he mistakenly calls her Asuncion, and she corrects him it is Ascencion, an odd name for anyone to have.
The title is probably related to the hari-kiri he intends to commit, and it's the only reference between the title and what's going on in the mind of the would be suicide. When he asks Ascen if she would have sex with him, we are shocked. Isn't she, after all, much too old to be having sex? Yet, when she complies, what we see is something like a redemption, and Ascen is the object where the man suddenly becomes human again knowing the sacrifice she has made in order to redeem him.
Many people have suggested an affinity of Mr. Reygadas with the Iranian filmmaker Kiarostami. Both men have dealt with this same theme, but where Kiarostami becomes repetitive in what he gives the viewer, Mr. Reygadas takes a different approach that rewards us as viewers. Mr. Reygadas also has to be congratulated by the use of non-actors that give intense performances that no other trained professionals would ever dreamed of giving.
Carlos Reygadas will no doubt infuriate some of his audiences, but at the same time he shows he has talent and imagination.
The man at the center of the story wants to commits suicide. For that, he has chosen going back to this desolate part of the country where he wants to do himself in. He suddenly discovers there is a life out there he didn't even know existed. When he befriends the older woman, Ascen, he mistakenly calls her Asuncion, and she corrects him it is Ascencion, an odd name for anyone to have.
The title is probably related to the hari-kiri he intends to commit, and it's the only reference between the title and what's going on in the mind of the would be suicide. When he asks Ascen if she would have sex with him, we are shocked. Isn't she, after all, much too old to be having sex? Yet, when she complies, what we see is something like a redemption, and Ascen is the object where the man suddenly becomes human again knowing the sacrifice she has made in order to redeem him.
Many people have suggested an affinity of Mr. Reygadas with the Iranian filmmaker Kiarostami. Both men have dealt with this same theme, but where Kiarostami becomes repetitive in what he gives the viewer, Mr. Reygadas takes a different approach that rewards us as viewers. Mr. Reygadas also has to be congratulated by the use of non-actors that give intense performances that no other trained professionals would ever dreamed of giving.
Carlos Reygadas will no doubt infuriate some of his audiences, but at the same time he shows he has talent and imagination.