Jauja

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.

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.

I went to see director Lisandro Alonso's 'Jauja' especially because his earlier trilogy blew me away. 'La Libertad' (2001), 'Los Muertos' (2004) and 'Fantasma' (2006) each observe a solitary man – a survivor – roaming through the jungle wordlessly, like a wild animal. (The setting of 'Fantasma' is urban, but can also metaphorically be regarded as a jungle.) A decade later, I am still amazed by the power of those films and by how little they rely on plot, dialogue or props. Alonso's 2008 effort, 'Liverpool', is also minimalist and follows a similar theme, but tells a slightly more specific story.

'Jauja' is more elaborate than any of Alonso's previous work. As in 'Liverpool', there is something like a plot and very limited, but significant dialogue (in Spanish, Danish and French, in this case). A gorgeous, more sophisticated cinematography presents landscapes that bring to mind 19th Century oil paintings. This is a period film that involves realistic costumes and the kind of beautifully crafted tools used by explorers and the military in the 1800s. Also, 'Jauja' features a famous actor, Viggo Mortensen of 'The Lord of the Rings', who co-produced it and co-wrote the musical score. I think this was all a great way for Alonso to try something new and fresh, without giving up his very unique style and aesthetics.

Don't expect a linear, mainstream film or you may be disappointed. This is an art-house Western – a strange, slow-paced ride through the vast, open space of the Argentine Patagonia. It addresses the exhilarating sense of adventure, but also of violence and dread, that one might experience in the hinterland. The story reminds me of Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness', in that it depicts a struggle between the forces of "civilization" and the primitive, while also drawing a parallel between the wilderness of outdoor nature and our subconscious. (Alonso's film 'Los Muertos', which shows a man travelling along a river, may also have a link to Conrad's short novel.) The film's tempo, surreal situations and the use of places as a reference to states of mind are reminiscent of Tarkovsky's 'Stalker' or 'Solaris'.

We are explained that "Jauja" is a mythical land of abundance, something akin to paradise, whose search in the old days drove many to ruin. Dinesen (Mortensen) aims to establish order in a distant, foreign land, but keeps running into unruly behavior, left and right. It's as if the indomitable spirit of the desert possessed everyone around him and suggested to him – with its dreamy voice, sometimes forcefully, sometimes playfully – that his stubbornly controlling approach towards life is misguided, a lost cause. Perhaps more than in any other film he's made, the director achieves communicating something magical and ethereal, pointing to the deep, enigmatic wisdom that we each hold inside, but are afraid to listen to. The ending may imply that all these characters are, in fact, interconnected, showing different sides of the same stone (much like the "animus" and "anima" in Jungian psychology describe the male and female aspects in every person, for example).

Like Alonso's earlier trilogy, 'Jauja' poetically hints at the magnificence and mystery of human life in God's garden. Its images and sounds seem to come from far, far away, yet somehow feel eerily familiar and close.

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.

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!