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Silent Light (Luz silenciosa) (Director: Carlos Reygadas): Another one of my previewed films that made the final cut, Silent Light is a bit intimidating to write about. Beginning with a stunning six minute shot of the sun rising over a Mennonite homestead, the film alerts us that it is going to require patience and a certain sense of contemplation. And it establishes right away that everything that follows, the human story, is secondary to the cycles of nature, to the circadian rhythms of the natural world, to the pulse of life that beats deep down in the earth and that echoes throughout the universe. I’m sorry if I’m using high-flown language; it’s the effect of this strangely haunting film.
Johan is a simple farmer who’s lived his whole life among the Mennonites of northern Mexico. They don’t communicate much with outsiders, and speak their own Plautdietsch dialect of German. He lives with his wife Esther (Canadian novelist Miriam Toews in a surprising role) and their large family. The film’s crisis comes when we learn that Johan has been carrying on an affair with Marianne, another woman in the community. He’s been honest about it with Esther from the beginning, and has tried to break it off, but deep in his heart he feels that Marianne is his “natural woman” and that marrying Esther was a mistake. Though he clearly loves her and his children, he’s torn by the power of his passion for the other woman as well as his conviction that she is his intended match. Reygadas’ decision to use authentic Mennonite non-professionals has mixed results. Though it’s clear that these are stoic people who use few words, in places the dialogue still felt excessively mannered. He is able to achieve more with the camera than with any spoken dialogue, and that’s where the film finds its emotional power.
The cinematography and sound design are almost Dogme-like in their simplicity, which makes the film’s climax all the more surprising for some. Without giving anything away, all I’ll say is that unlike many, I found it completely natural and moving in its simplicity. And although this is supposedly a community built on Christian faith, I found something closer to pantheism beating at its heart.
Here is the Q&A with director Carlos Reygadas from after the screening:
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Duration: 23:58
Trailer
Official Site
(8/10)
Tagged as:
adultery,
christianity,
faith,
mennonites,
mexico,
religion,
spirituality,
TIFF
Secret Sunshine (Milyang) (Director: Lee Chang-dong): Jeon Do-yeon gives a breathtaking performance as Shin-ae, a recently widowed young mother who takes her son to live in her late husband’s hometown, hoping for a fresh start. Instead, a new tragedy plunges her further into grief. Although to some, this may sound like just the sort of “film festival” film to avoid, it was never less than compelling, despite its 142 minute run time.
Possible Spoiler Alert: Despite the fact that every review I’ve read discusses the plot points I’m about to reveal, I thought it would be fair to warn you.
It’s clear that Shin-ae is already an isolated figure even before she moves to a new town. Her husband’s death in a car accident doesn’t seem to be the only reason she wants a fresh start. She leaves without telling her own family, to whom she seems estranged. Her only joy is in her young son, Jun. As she establishes herself as a piano teacher in her new surroundings, we learn a bit more. She had married young, presumably to get out of her family’s household. Her husband had cheated on her. Her brother seems to want to stay in touch. And then there’s Jong-chan, the goofy local mechanic who’s developed a major crush on her. Despite his sincere attraction, she tries to keep him at arm’s length. He’s 39 and unmarried, which makes him a figure of fun to his friends. But touchingly, he continues to watch over Shin-ae, and when her son is kidnapped and later found dead, he’s there to offer support. But she doesn’t seem to notice.
The film is really a journey into the hell that is grief. Though the first loss seemed only to stagger her, the loss of her child threatens to sweep her away. In a desperate attempt to hold off the full force of her grief, and the pain that is physically weighing her down, she joins an evangelical church. God and the believers are offering her comfort, even healing, and she snatches at the chance. It seems to work for a little while, and she decides to visit her son’s killer in prison, to offer him her forgiveness. But when she arrives, she finds out that he too has found faith, that God has already forgiven his sins, and that jars her tenuous belief.
At this point, we begin to surmise that Shin-ae’s relationship with her father may have been one of abuse, and her anger at God seems to become entwined with her feelings for her own father. In her sudden disillusionment with Christianity, she lashes out in ways both funny (her sabotage of a prayer meeting’s sound system) and cruel (her seduction of a church elder). Several times during these desperate acts, she looks up to the heavens and asks, “Can you see me?”
All along, the comfort and love she’s longing for are under her nose. Jong-chan (played with wonderful gentleness by The Host’s Song Kang-ho) waits patiently, picking up the pieces at every turn. He even joins the church for her, which leads to several comic moments. It might be tempting to think that the film is criticizing Christianity, but in hindsight, the devotion and selflessness shown by Jong-chan is probably the closest thing to the ideal of Christian love in the entire film. Which is not to say he’s a saint. He’s lonely, too, but his determination that they are right for each other is touching and in the end, we hope, convincing.
The film could very well have been entitled “A New Life,” for that’s what Shin-ae is seeking all along. At the end, it’s not all resolved. She’s gone through hell, and might have to go through more, but there is a little bit of hope. The name of the town, we’re told early in the film, is derived from the Chinese for “secret sunshine.” By the closing frames, we’re hoping Shin-ae can see it.
Trailer
Official Site
(8/10)
Tagged as:
christianity,
korea,
religion,
TIFF
The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun (Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær, Denmark, 2006): Mr. Vig is an elderly bachelor living in a broken-down castle. For years, he has dreamed of establishing a monastery there, “to create something enduring,” and so, sensing he doesn’t have long to live, he invites the Russian Orthodox church to use his property. They send a small group of nuns to check the place out, including the shrewd Sister Amvrosya. They leave and then return in a few months, and Mr. Vig spends time trying to clean and fix the place up. Once the nuns are more established, he finds himself butting heads with Sister Amvrosya over the renovations and the future plans for the monastery. But for the first time in his life, he seems to have entered a domestic relationship with a woman, and finds the contentment that seems to have eluded him in his long life.
This film was unbelievably touching and beautiful, from the 35mm cinematography (which is becoming rarer all the time in the world of documentary filmmaking) to the soundtrack to the very low-key direction. There are many small grace notes throughout the film, like shots of Sister Amvrosya and Mr. Vig walking in the garden, or her preparing food for him. Everything is unspoken, but there is a very real bond between these two.
Throughout the film, Mr. Vig laments that he just isn’t like other people, that he doesn’t know anything about love, that when it comes to emotions, he’s “deformed” or “a cripple.” And yet, he invites people into his house, invites God into his house, and it somehow becomes a home.
The metaphor seems obvious but it’s true. The house is the man. Ramshackle, run down, a little dirty, perhaps, but full of interesting things and stories, and ultimately beautiful. This quietly powerful film will stay with me for a long time.
Official site for the film
(9/10)
Tagged as:
christianity,
denmark,
Documentaries,
Hot Docs
Toronto Star film critic Geoff Pevere is giving a free lecture tonight at Regis College (affiliated with the University of Toronto) entitled “The Transcendental Screen: Spirituality in the Movies”. It’s part of Regis College’s Lenten Lecture series and takes place at 7:30pm in Elliott McGuigan Hall (67 St. Nicholas Street, near Yonge and Bloor). Full details here.
NOTE: If previous lectures are any indication, the lecture will be podcast and available from the web page a few days later.
Tagged as:
christianity,
faith,
geoffpevere,
religion,
spirituality
The nominations were announced for the Oscars yesterday. I’ve been seeing fewer feature films lately, but I do manage to catch more documentaries. Of the five nominees, I’ve only seen two so far, but I plan to try to see all of them if I can before the Academy Awards are handed out on February 25.
The nominees for Best Documentary are:
It’s nice to see that documentary film is serving some of its most important purposes in these films: to bear witness, and to kick us in the conscience. It’s interesting to note that two films deal with Christianity (both deal with forms of toxic Christianity, in my opinion), two deal with the Iraq war, and one with a global crisis. No uplifting films, this year, sadly. Times are tough.
If you’ve seen any of these, what did you think? Who’s your bet to win? My money is on Al Gore’s sobering PowerPoint presentation on climate change. Not the most creatively filmed, but certainly the most urgent, and it managed to present information in an entertaining and mostly guilt-free way that made me want to make some changes to the way I live.
UPDATE: In a bit of cross-blog linkery, I’ve listed the losers in this category for the past few years over at Runner-Up! Check ‘em out!
Tagged as:
christianity,
environment,
faith,
iraq
