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In a year that has witnessed the big hitters, such The Wolf of Wall Street, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Amazing Spiderman 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier amongst many others, all marred by lengthy running times; Lav Diaz’s Norte, the End of History, with an empathetic four hour and ten minute duration, is something of a peculiar case.

It tells the story of three people whose lives become intertwined when law student Fabian (Sid Lucero) commits a double murder and Joaquin (Archie Alemania) takes the fall, leaving his wife, children and parents to fend for themselves. Frequently accused of being an enemy of man, time is an enduring entity that confronts every filmmaker who attempts to imbue his or her film with a precise pace, and thereby ensure that the credits roll neither too soon nor too late. Diaz’s latest cinematic odyssey sees him...

Crime & Punishment: Diaz’s Latest Epic Examines the Banality of Evil

For those accustomed to the cinema of Lav Diaz, the four hour running time of his latest opus, Norte, the End of History, seems conservatively trim by comparison. But for those uninitiated, this is an excellent place to start. Basically, Diaz’s narrative displaces Dostoevsky’s Crime & Punishment to the Philippines, further examining the moral suffering of his Raskolnikov figure by denying societal sanctioned consequences, exacerbated by the fact that another man takes the fall for his actions. Truth and meaning, the sacred and profane, society and the family—all are philosophical notions discussed figuratively and literally in the frameworks of Diaz’s latest, but not to the radical effect that this may imply. Instead, the banality of life and the dreadful, sometimes excruciating passage of time devours all.

Fabian (Sid Lucero), is an increasingly angry young man who...

If you’re in New York or Los Angeles this weekend, run don’t walk to James Ward Byrkit’s dizzying metaphysical horror film “Coherence,” or Roman Polanski’s elegant pas-de-deux “Venus in Fur.” But think twice before heading to Clint Eastwood’s 1960s musical biopic “Jersey Boys,” meeting a mixed critical response, or Paul Haggis’ awful collage of interlocking soap operas “Third Person,” currently crashing with reviewers.

On the indie side of the spectrum, you can catch Brit Joanna Hogg’s “Exhibition,” starring Tom Hiddleston, which Indiewire says has shades of Michael Haneke by way of Miranda July; Filipino helmer Lav Diaz’s latest multi-hour epic, “Norte, The End of History,” will hold court at NY’s Lincoln Center after a long festival tour dating back to Cannes 2013, where “Venus in Fur” also bowed; and Jan Troell’s austere WWII-era psychodrama “The Last Sentence” hits select markets too.

The...

Exclusive: UK distributor acquires rights to Lav Diaz’s Un Certain Regard entry.

UK distributor New Wave Films has acquired Lav Diaz’s epic drama Norte, the End of History.

The festival favourite, which debuted in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and has also played at Karlovy Vary, Locarno and Toronto among other festivals, begins as a riff on Dostoyevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment but also alludes to Philippino class and politics, the country’s intelligentsia and its foreign-worker phenomenon.

New Wave, which acquired the film from producer is Raymond Lee after its screening at the London Film Festival, plans a spring 2014 release.

Cinema Guild had already acquired Us rights.

Screenplay is from Lav Diaz and Rody Vera. Cast includes Sid Lucero, Angeli Bayani, Archie Alemania, Angelina Kanapi and Soliman Cruz.

Philippine New Wave director Diaz won Venice’s Orrizonti Award in 2008 for drama Melancholia.