Argentinian writer/director Lisandro Alonso’s highly watchable, if baffling, contemplation of the Western comes in three parts: Traditional Old West; Modern Indian Reservation; Timeless Brazilian Jungle. The first stars Viggo Mortensen as the usual ‘Stranger Comes To Town’ (and a mighty strange town it is, too!). He’s hunting up revenge for some unexplained past event, and finds it. Killing off a passel of cow pokes before they do him in. Shot in squarish b&w Academy ratio (the rest of the film in color*), it has the flattened look of some early ‘60s movies. But it’s the modern center section that comes off best: a tough policewoman working thru various social & domestic troubles on a reservation (poverty & frustration at every turn) and a story that works in counterpoint about a young woman preparing to leave for good. A long ritual goodbye to her grandfather the film’s (misplaced) emotional climax. (The young woman playing her, Sadie LaPointe, as empathetic as anyone you’ll meet on camera.) Then, it's down to Brazil (?) for two more stories. One where a tribe lives as if nothing has changed in three centuries and a second involving an old-fashioned gold-mining operation. Not sure how these are supposed to fit in with the rest of the film, but Alonso gets such a distinctive texture (mesmerizing slow dissolves), he holds your attention thru a kind of formal restraint. Though 2'27" pushes the limits.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: IMDb lists 16mm used in filming. No doubt in the color sections (Parts Two & Three), but the Old West b&w opening act looks digital.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Many of the themes brought up here are far better (and more clearly) served in EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT/’15. (Its stunning b&w look from 35mm.) https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2017/01/el-abrazo-de-la-serpiente-embrace-of.html
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