Jauja

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!

If you dare to watch this film be sure not to expect much of a story, rather enjoy the surprising beauty of the Argentinian Pampa and the time the film gives you to look. I guess almost every shot lasts longer than 10 seconds and many run far longer and create a dreamlike atmosphere. At some point it reminded me of a still picture gallery. Not much talking is done either and the dialog is creating more fog then clearance. There is only a very thin storyline but most things remain incomprehensible.

Films like „Gerry" come to mind, or „The Shooting", "The Draughtsman's Contract" or even „Shutter Island". The best approach might be to absorb the images which are often really stunning and don't try to solve the riddle. It seems to be meant as an experience, not as a thesis on what went wrong in this or that person's life. The main character gets deeper and deeper into the desert while everything gets more surreal.

Although all this sounds rather weird and boring, the film has an inner suspense that doesn't let go. Viggo Mortensen plays a man who looses his dignity in the course of the events but he never appears ridiculous which is much to the credit of the actor.

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.

This movie is beautiful at times. In addition to being in 4:3 format, the colors are made to look like it was shot in the early decades of color movies. This goes excellent together with the "western"-setting. Both the scenery and the costumes worn by the actors, attract your attention, and rewards you for it. The 4:3 format makes me think of cheap western shows made for TV, filmed in studios with backdrops. This move is almost demonstratively not using backdrops, and it has actors moving back and forwards in the scenery, giving the movie a sense of depth (almost despite the aspect ratio).

So, it's good looking. Sadly, the story is not as interesting as the setting. In parts of the movie the story moves painfully slow. There are interesting portions of it, and the story does get going after a while. But in the end of the movie it takes a quick turn to the surreal, which could have been interesting, if it hadn't been ruined straight away by an underwhelming ending. I'm sure there is something to explore with the story, why it ends as it does. The obvious answer is hopefully not the correct one.

On a different note, I liked the acting and the actors in this movie. I understand Danish, and I thought it was great fun to see how it was used along the Spanish. The best scene is maybe the one where French is also spoken.

There's hardly any music in the movie at all, but the little there is is nice. I also liked the sound in this movie, at one point it made me squeam more than I have in a long time.

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.