Jauja

This reminds me a lot of Gerry. This is a deep and very experimental film, not really a film that would be easy to recommend to casual audiences at all. It was surprising to see viggo mortensen in a role like this, and he does well, sort of. It's hard to really grasp how to judge him and the film around him. What I will say is that, just on that aspect, the film just wasn't very intriguing and that's really the one failing that makes or breaks a film. I was bored, and I rarely like to use that as a criticism but it is in this case. I definitely don't recommend it, even if I feel like there are some nice scenes here and there and some great cinematography. It's a film I don't like but I don't hate because it's still something different.

This film eases even the most savage man. It's a movie that must be seen with calm and patience due to its "low-revolutions" script. The world created for this story is more than great; in less than five minutes we feel immersed in this appeased lands of introspective and humidity, tons of humidity. I get my hands off the keyboard to applaud Lisandro Alonso and Fabian Casas for the sublime script. Choosing to play with such an abstract theme as it is the "dreaming/paralel world/spiritual trip" is admirable but challenging and they got through it in the most smooth way. Even though I really enjoyed Jauja I was left with a bittersweet taste, and this taste was brought by the format/size the movie was projected (4:3). I felt that my heart was ripped apart with each landscape maimed. My regards, Guido.

So refreshing to see a film that is not afraid to play around with the conventional idea of linear narrative. An intriguing blend of Tarkovsky, Apocalypse Now, and Bela Tar. It made me want to follow up this director's earlier films. The attention span of many film goers seems to be shrinking fast, judging by the criticisms of the lingering shots which Juaja features. Novels, music and art installations all play with time and space, and film can do the same, in the right hands, as here. Credit to Mortensen for lending his 'name' to a project like this, and for giving such a restrained performance. The real star of Juaja is the landscape, which silently conveys the truth that wild nature will always trump human activity.

Many films that try to do what Jauja did fall flat due to one simple flaw. Tedium. Many drone on and on till even the most patient film goer ends up bored and any deeper meaning of the film is lost to them.

Jauja is a slow paced, quiet, and visual film, but it never feels wearing. There's a sense of pace, a slow pace, but a pace and a rhythm that never makes it difficult to watch.

It is made up largely of long, beautiful shots, usually devoid of any music and containing only minimalist dialog. The whole affair has a sort of dreamlike feel. This movie is far less about characters and story and meaning than it is about tone and mood and aesthetics. If it's an aesthetic you enjoy than the film will engross you.

All that said I wasn't truly blown away by it. Nothing really ever shocked or grabbed or awed me. It was beautiful, it was enjoyable, but not really inspiriting on any higher level. It is in the end like a very nice dream, pleasant while you're in it, worth remembering after, but not really anything that carries with you long after waking.

I'm all for complex dramas even if they're extremely slow paced. However, when it comes to nearly indecipherable plot elements and extremely slow pacing, I'd rather watch paint dry.

This is one of those movies that maybe a select few cinephiles and critics will tell us is poetry in motion. I guess if you're one of the unsophisticated like myself, you very well may not have the slightest clue what is taking place on screen. I know I didn't.

The fine actor Viggo Mortensen's talents are nearly completely wasted here in this totally confusing mess of a movie. I'm glad some have found it to their liking, but to me it was totally incoherent, as I kept waiting for some of it to make sense. Good luck with that!