Robe of Gems

This is the debut feature film of Natalia Lopez (wife of director Carlos Reygadas, actress in Reygadas' "Our Times" as its lead character Esther, and editor of several works of Reygadas). It is not surprising that this work has the stamp of Reygadas' style all over it, from the opening sequence onwards (ref. "Silent Light"). As Ms Lopez is a woman, she captures the life of Mexico's underworld of drug cartels, the corrrupt police, abductions, killings, divorces, and the effect of all this on the children in a sensitive, realistic manner, unlike the brutal, coarse work of director Amat Escalante in "Heli" in which also Ms Lopez was the editor. As in all Reygadas films, the race relationships within Mexico are prominent. This is critical, as this film dwells on the reactions and actions of three "connected Mexican women," following the disappearance of a fourth woman. During the Berlinale Press Conference . Ms Lopez said she saw the three women as three faces of a single woman, like a Hindu goddess. The three women are a wealthy woman separating/divorcing from her husband; a corrupt police officer; and a family maid of the wealthy woman.

A noteworthy debut effort, which deservedly won the Berlin Silver Bear. (P. S. The film includes a bizarre sequence of a man being burnt to death in front of scores of mute spectators, including women, as though some illegal justice/punishment is being carried out.)

I was more or less confused the entire time I watched this film. I didn't understand various characters' motivations, sometimes actions. It put me into a state of unease the entire time. I left with questions that lingered for days, weeks. It made a strong impression on me and I look forward to seeing more of the director's work. The photography and sound design are impeccable. The pacing could be called slow, I would call it steady. There are punctuations of violence reminiscent of Bruno Dumont's early films. As a whole the film reminded me of Haneke, which for me is a compliment of the highest order.

For the highbrowed critizisers, made in such away that you try to look behind the screen just to find the next shoot/scene due to longdrawn takes. With an incoherent plot , a story told so dull and where the main targets of issues like a divorce and a kidnapping falls way behind the normal way to tell a story, a cast of the actors guild that aint qualified for this kind of serious narrow spectered movies.

The filming techniques really strangles the art of moviemaking, and the long overshoots makes this films playtime overdue, a time that you could spend a lot better than watching this crudeelious stuff. A no recommend from the grumpy old man.

Two hours of random, extremely long scenes put together with no actual plot. Those scenes that could have been cut to a few seconds stretch out for minutes like chewing gum (e.g. A mentally ill woman asking her gardener to hurt her while he is chopping trees, a mother fighting with her wannabe-gangster son over his clothes, a girl swimming on the surface of a pool, people searching for a missing woman in the dark). Displaying all those scenes in one room with additional information would have been a nice art project maybe, but as a movie it was just extremely boring. I regret I didnt just leave the Berlinale screening. It is such a shame that the director failed to actually tell the terrible tales of the countless missing victims in Mexico in an interesting way.

Long languid shots...constant chitting of insects you can feel the heat. Visually interesting, but not beautiful. A bit like watching Shakdspeare in17th century English and having to let it wash over you while you pick up bits and pieces. Of course Shaksspeare has a story. This barely does. It's disjointed and the thread that ties it together is very thin. We asked someone on the way out what he thought hoping he was more knowledgeable. "It's a mystery," he said, without any sense of irony.... Yes. Mysterious.