Japòn

This year's runner up for the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, doesn't exactly lack in ambition. First time director Carlos Reygadas Barquin follows a nameless man (brilliantly played by the unknown Alejandro Ferretis), as he limps through the Mexican high country on what is purportedly his last journey in life. Strangely dispassionate about his decision, the man seeks the solitude of the mountains. He is about to end his life. On the outskirts of a mountain village, however, he finds Ascen, an elderly widow, who's not exactly carefree life changes the man slowly, yet profoundly. He is being torn between his self-destructive inclinations and the will to cling on to his new-found involvement - which include the raw sexual feelings for Ascen as well as the latter's bureaucratic fight with her nephew. As a debut film, Jap6n is nothing less than breathtaking. With its use of slowly billowing images, a Bach- and Shostakovich-based score and non-professional actors (many of whom are residents of the village where the movie was shot), Jap6n becomes a visually stunning investigation in humanity, grief and, above all, mortality. NIKLAS ERIKSSON

Premiärstatus
Nordisk premiär: Medverkande
Carlos Reygadas Barquín, Alejandro Ferretis, Magdalena Flores: Producent
Carlos Reygadas: Manus
Carlos Reygadas: Foto
Carlos Reygadas: Musik
Arvo Pärt: Talat språk
Spanish