Early into Carlos Reygadas’ Our Time (Nuestro Tiempo), the camera follows Esther (Reygadas’ spouse Natalia López) as she drives home to her ranch, husband Juan (Reygadas himself) and kids. Esther is coming home from a motel where she met and slept with Phil (Phil Burgers), an affair Juan is slowly coming to terms with and will later encourage, in a toxic cuckolding game that will anchor the most part of Our Time’s whopping 173 minutes. The camera stays on her face, and then, as in a magic trick, moves into the car’s engine. It’s a moment of ineffable beauty: Esther drives home, enamored, a mellow tune engulfs the car, and a whole world vibrates inside of it, filling the screen with a cacophony of pistons, valves, and energy. The scene comes at the end of Our Time’s first act—if the word could ever apply to Reygadas...
- 9/7/2018
- MUBI
Reportedly, Post Tenebras Lux was met with a hail of boos by critics and audience members alike upon its premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, yet the Mexican director Carlos Reygadas was (to many, astonishingly) awarded the Director’s Prize by the Nanni Moretti headed jury. In hindsight, the split response is completely reasonable. Thanks to its surreal impulses and confusingly detached editing, the film might appear anything but a straightforward narrative. On its first watch, it may seem to be little more than a mish-mash of bleak ideology and half baked ideas, but Reygadas’ most personal work to date rewards with multiple viewings. With disjointed multiple timelines and ambiguously shifting character perspectives, Post Tenebras Lux weaves an austere narrative around the crumbling of family life in rural Mexico while dropping in autobiographical c(l)ues of Reygadas’ own upbringing in often breathtakingly beautiful moments of serene cinema.
If anything...
If anything...
- 12/31/2013
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Post Tenebras Lux
Directed by Carlos Reygadas
Written by Carlos Reygadas
Mexico/France, 2012
Carlos Reygadas is not the sort of filmmaker who earns consensus among critics and film aficionados. A few years ago he came out with Silent Light, which was an exquisitely shot, extremely intimate story about a secluded community deep within the Mexican countryside which this movie fan enjoyed a great deal. Not everyone did however, with some deriding it for being slow, empty and pretentious. It would seem the director is up to some of his old tricks in 2012 with Post Tenebras Lux, his new film which earned him a Mise en Scène award at the most recent Cannes Film Festival. While this may be reason to celebrate Reygadas’ film finally arriving at the Fnc, it feels safe to say that the new film will easily rustle a few feathers as well.
Reygadas returns yet again to Mexico in Post Tenebras Lux,...
Directed by Carlos Reygadas
Written by Carlos Reygadas
Mexico/France, 2012
Carlos Reygadas is not the sort of filmmaker who earns consensus among critics and film aficionados. A few years ago he came out with Silent Light, which was an exquisitely shot, extremely intimate story about a secluded community deep within the Mexican countryside which this movie fan enjoyed a great deal. Not everyone did however, with some deriding it for being slow, empty and pretentious. It would seem the director is up to some of his old tricks in 2012 with Post Tenebras Lux, his new film which earned him a Mise en Scène award at the most recent Cannes Film Festival. While this may be reason to celebrate Reygadas’ film finally arriving at the Fnc, it feels safe to say that the new film will easily rustle a few feathers as well.
Reygadas returns yet again to Mexico in Post Tenebras Lux,...
- 5/3/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
An early scene in Carlos Reygadas's Post Tenebras Lux might serve as a metaphor for its audience's experience watching the film: A little girl (the director's daughter Rut) wades through a muddy field, desperately calling out her relatives' names. Confusion often reigns here, but the film offers a degree of lush beauty that makes sitting through it well worth the occasional frustrations. Its middle section depicts racial and class tensions between architect Juan (Adolfo Jiménez Castro), his wife, Nathalia (Nathalia Acevedo), and their darker-skinned, poorer neighbors. This culminates in a blast of violence, but even then the narrative feels like an assembly of disconnected scenes. In one of the weaker set pieces, Reygadas returns to the sexual provocation of Battle in ...
- 5/2/2013
- Village Voice
Courtesy of writer/director Carlos Reygadas, below are the script and storyboards from two sequences from Post Tenebras Lux, which opens at Film Forum today. The first sequence is the sauna scene, in which the film’s two central characters, played by Adolfo Jiménez Castro and Nathalia Acevedo, visit a swingers sauna in France, and the second is the closing sequence of the film. 10. Cave. Camera hand held and on tripod. To be determined whether real steam or fake smoke. Juan, Esther and extras. (French). 1. Series of fixed shots of naked people in a steam bath with red light. …...
- 5/1/2013
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Post Tenebras Lux | Jack The Giant Slayer | Reality | Compliance | Identity Thief | The Croods | Neighbouring Sounds | Stolen | Reincarnated | Small Apartments | The Servant | I, Superbiker: Day Of Reckoning
Post Tenebras Lux (18)
(Carlos Reygadas, 2012, Mex/Fra/Neth/Ger) Adolfo Jiménez Castro, Nathalia Acevedo, Willebaldo Torres. 115 mins
Terence Malick gone a bit mainstream for you? Then try this latest litmus test, in which Mexican auteur Reygadas takes his penchant for striking imagery and disjointed narratives to commendably ambitious/infuriatingly inscrutable extremes. Centred on a troubled architect and his family, it's a shuffled jigsaw puzzle involving class tensions, rugby, swingers' parties and an animated Satan.
Jack The Giant Slayer (12A)
(Bryan Singer, 2013, Us) Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor. 114 mins
Another souped-up fairytale offering commercially calibrated spectacle rather than genuine wonder. The promising cast and giant budget amount to a hill of beans.
Reality (15)
(Matteo Garrone, 2012, Ita/Fra) Aniello Arena, Loredana Simioli. 116 mins
TV's celebrity culture exuberantly satirised,...
Post Tenebras Lux (18)
(Carlos Reygadas, 2012, Mex/Fra/Neth/Ger) Adolfo Jiménez Castro, Nathalia Acevedo, Willebaldo Torres. 115 mins
Terence Malick gone a bit mainstream for you? Then try this latest litmus test, in which Mexican auteur Reygadas takes his penchant for striking imagery and disjointed narratives to commendably ambitious/infuriatingly inscrutable extremes. Centred on a troubled architect and his family, it's a shuffled jigsaw puzzle involving class tensions, rugby, swingers' parties and an animated Satan.
Jack The Giant Slayer (12A)
(Bryan Singer, 2013, Us) Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor. 114 mins
Another souped-up fairytale offering commercially calibrated spectacle rather than genuine wonder. The promising cast and giant budget amount to a hill of beans.
Reality (15)
(Matteo Garrone, 2012, Ita/Fra) Aniello Arena, Loredana Simioli. 116 mins
TV's celebrity culture exuberantly satirised,...
- 3/23/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
This Mexican tale of an unlikely friendship contains many contradictions and more than a few enigmas, but somehow it works
Brilliant and provocative, shallow and preposterous: the two wings of Carlos Reygadas's film-making personality are clearly, even oppressively apparent in his new movie. For my money, it is captivating and exasperating at a ratio of around 60:40. Juan (Adolfo Jiménez Castro) and Natalia (Nathalia Acevedo) are a well-to-do Mexican couple with two children who now live in the remote countryside, where Juan has formed a friendship with a local repairman nicknamed El Siete, or Seven (Willebaldo Torres). El Siete once installed Juan's electrical system, brought him into a local 12-step group and helped him deal with his anger and addiction issues.
Reygadas unveils some startling coups de cinéma and digital creations in a film that is almost abstract, with the qualities of an installation. A glowing red devil makes...
Brilliant and provocative, shallow and preposterous: the two wings of Carlos Reygadas's film-making personality are clearly, even oppressively apparent in his new movie. For my money, it is captivating and exasperating at a ratio of around 60:40. Juan (Adolfo Jiménez Castro) and Natalia (Nathalia Acevedo) are a well-to-do Mexican couple with two children who now live in the remote countryside, where Juan has formed a friendship with a local repairman nicknamed El Siete, or Seven (Willebaldo Torres). El Siete once installed Juan's electrical system, brought him into a local 12-step group and helped him deal with his anger and addiction issues.
Reygadas unveils some startling coups de cinéma and digital creations in a film that is almost abstract, with the qualities of an installation. A glowing red devil makes...
- 3/22/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Making its world debut at Cannes last spring, Carlos Reygadas came away from the festival with the Best Director award in hand for his latest feature, Post Tenebras Lux.
After spending much of last year on the festival circuit, Reygadas’ film is finally set for release in the UK and Us, arriving first on our shores in March and then across the Atlantic in May.
With just over a month before its UK release date, Little White Lies have debuted the new quad poster that we can look forward to seeing up on the Underground and elsewhere across the country in the coming weeks.
“Juan (Adolfo Jiménez Castro) is a wealthy industrialist who has chosen to live with his wife and two children away from the trappings of wealth and the city. Yet isolation in this superficially idyllic rural landscape seems to have brought little peace to his world. Juan...
After spending much of last year on the festival circuit, Reygadas’ film is finally set for release in the UK and Us, arriving first on our shores in March and then across the Atlantic in May.
With just over a month before its UK release date, Little White Lies have debuted the new quad poster that we can look forward to seeing up on the Underground and elsewhere across the country in the coming weeks.
“Juan (Adolfo Jiménez Castro) is a wealthy industrialist who has chosen to live with his wife and two children away from the trappings of wealth and the city. Yet isolation in this superficially idyllic rural landscape seems to have brought little peace to his world. Juan...
- 2/12/2013
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
L.A.-based outfit Strand Releasing has grabbed U.S. rights to Mexican director Carlos Reygadas‘ Post Tenebras Lux, which won the best director prize at Cannes in May.
Latin for ‘light after darkness,’ Post Tenebras Lux was also nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or Award and most recently screened at AFI Fest. The film will open May 1st, 2013 at the Film Forum in New York and dozens of other cities across the country.
Strand’s founder Marcus Hu said:
We’re thrilled to be working on Mr. Reygadas’ film. His sensibilities align with Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Lucrecia Martel and Jacques Nolot, some of the strongest voices we have in our library.
The film which presents itself as a problematic starring Adolfo Jiménez Castro, Nathalia Acevedo and Willebaldo Torres.
Synopsis:
Juan (Castro) and his urban family live in the Mexican countryside, where they enjoy and suffer a world apart. And,...
Latin for ‘light after darkness,’ Post Tenebras Lux was also nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or Award and most recently screened at AFI Fest. The film will open May 1st, 2013 at the Film Forum in New York and dozens of other cities across the country.
Strand’s founder Marcus Hu said:
We’re thrilled to be working on Mr. Reygadas’ film. His sensibilities align with Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Lucrecia Martel and Jacques Nolot, some of the strongest voices we have in our library.
The film which presents itself as a problematic starring Adolfo Jiménez Castro, Nathalia Acevedo and Willebaldo Torres.
Synopsis:
Juan (Castro) and his urban family live in the Mexican countryside, where they enjoy and suffer a world apart. And,...
- 11/27/2012
- by Nick Martin
- Filmofilia
Post Tenebras Lux
Directed by Carlos Reygadas
Written by Carlos Reygadas
Mexico/France, 2012
Carlos Reygadas is not the sort of filmmaker who earns consensus among critics and film aficionados. A few years ago he came out with Silent Light, which was an exquisitely shot, extremely intimate story about a secluded community deep within the Mexican countryside which this movie fan enjoyed a great deal. Not everyone did however, with some deriding it for being slow, empty and pretentious. It would seem the director is up to some of his old tricks in 2012 with Post Tenebras Lux, his new film which earned him a Mise en Scène award at the most recent Cannes Film Festival. While this may be reason to celebrate Reygadas’ film finally arriving at the Fnc, it feels safe to say that the new film will easily rustle a few feathers as well.
Reygadas returns yet again to Mexico in Post Tenebras Lux,...
Directed by Carlos Reygadas
Written by Carlos Reygadas
Mexico/France, 2012
Carlos Reygadas is not the sort of filmmaker who earns consensus among critics and film aficionados. A few years ago he came out with Silent Light, which was an exquisitely shot, extremely intimate story about a secluded community deep within the Mexican countryside which this movie fan enjoyed a great deal. Not everyone did however, with some deriding it for being slow, empty and pretentious. It would seem the director is up to some of his old tricks in 2012 with Post Tenebras Lux, his new film which earned him a Mise en Scène award at the most recent Cannes Film Festival. While this may be reason to celebrate Reygadas’ film finally arriving at the Fnc, it feels safe to say that the new film will easily rustle a few feathers as well.
Reygadas returns yet again to Mexico in Post Tenebras Lux,...
- 10/14/2012
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
As I mentioned in the preface to the first part of my Wavelengths preview (the one focusing on the short films), there are significant changes afoot in 2012. Until last year, the festival had a section known as Visions, which was the primary home for formally challenging cinema that nevertheless conformed to the basic tenets of arthouse and/or “festival” cinema (actors, scripting, 70+minute running time, and, once upon a time, 35mm presentation). This year, Wavelengths is both its former self, and it also contains the sort of work that Visions most likely would have housed. While in some respects this can seem to result in a kind of split personality for the section, it also means that Wavelengths, which has often been described as a sort of “festival within the festival,” has moved front and center. Films that would’ve occupied single slots in the older avant-Wavelengths model, like the...
- 9/12/2012
- MUBI
This opaque and exasperating work is a major misfire from the maverick Mexican director
No one ever looked to Carlos Reygadas for a clear picture and straight story, but this maverick Mexican director may have surpassed himself on Post Tenebras Lux, a congealed Jungian stew that went down to a chorus of boos at the Cannes film festival. Upping the ante still further, Reygadas has elected to shoot large portions of his film through a bevelled camera lens, which refracts his figures, doubles the image and leaves the screen's borders blurred. I have no doubt he is deliberately setting out to vex us.
What is he saying? What does he mean? The festival has been an ardent champion of this fiercely talented 40-year-old, who was nominated for the Palme d'Or for 2005's Battle in Heaven and scooped the jury prize for the mesmerising Silent Light back in 2007. And yet Post Tenebras Lux...
No one ever looked to Carlos Reygadas for a clear picture and straight story, but this maverick Mexican director may have surpassed himself on Post Tenebras Lux, a congealed Jungian stew that went down to a chorus of boos at the Cannes film festival. Upping the ante still further, Reygadas has elected to shoot large portions of his film through a bevelled camera lens, which refracts his figures, doubles the image and leaves the screen's borders blurred. I have no doubt he is deliberately setting out to vex us.
What is he saying? What does he mean? The festival has been an ardent champion of this fiercely talented 40-year-old, who was nominated for the Palme d'Or for 2005's Battle in Heaven and scooped the jury prize for the mesmerising Silent Light back in 2007. And yet Post Tenebras Lux...
- 5/24/2012
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
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