Japon - Director's Unrated Edition

Starring:Alejandro Ferretis, Magdalena Flores, Yolanda Villa, MartÃn Serrano (II), Rolando HernÃ¡ndez (II), Bernabe PÃ©rez, Fernando BenÃtez (II), Carlo Reygadas BarquÃn
Director: Carlos Reygadas
Studio: Tartan Video
Product Type: DVD

Description

A man leaves Mexico City for the remote countryside to prepare for his death. There he finds lodgeing with an old Indian widow in her rickety home overlooking a desolate canyon. In the vastness of a wild, breathtaking nature, he confronts the old woman's infinte humanity and oscillates between cruelty and lyricism. His dulled senses return to him, reawakening his desires and instincts for life and raw sexuality. This film was a winner of the Cannes Film Festival. DVD features include chapter selection, thatrical trailer, interview with director, and making-of documentary.

Customer Reviews:

BS.......2007-02-10

The only reason why anyone would even talk about this movie is the sex scene. Thats what the movie is all about. The DVD has an interview with the director. The guy is a kid (to be more precise, he was a 30 year old when he made this movie). An inexperienced, immature kid who has no idea what he is talking about. The kid wanted to attract the attention of the industry, the so called critics, and other movie makers. So he introduced the sex scene. As simple as that. The people who are reading more into this movie and praising this movie are the sort of people who will praise anything "artsy". Bottomline, dont waste your time and money on this movie made by an exteremely immature person. Watch an Akira Kurosawa movie instead - unless you are into meaningless, grotesque granny sex (she is an exploited 80 year old woman). This movie is not "art". This is a pathetic, nauseating attempt to garner attention by an immature kid who is trying to start a career. I am going to avoid this guy's movies.

The worst movie I have ever seen.......2006-07-22

Dont waste your time ! Really the worst movie in my life !!!

Portrait of a painter.......2006-03-19

Another great Tartan Video release with a terrific in-depth interview with the film's director, Japon (Spanish for "Japan") is a resonant film whose title, says director Carlos Reygadas, is meant to symbolize the rising sun--i.e., the renewal of life.

Most of the characters in the film are non-professional actors and this is certainly true of the two leads, a late 50s-year old artist who says he wants to commit suicide, and the 80s woman he eventually stays with, in a completely isolated mountain village in Mexico.

As is true for the best Westerns, the land is a major character here and Reygadas manages, with his keen and skillful eye, to fuse the broad vista of what could be called a "soft" mountainous terrain with a growing sense of innocence on the part of the painter who, coming from a city (likely Mexico City), begins to feel the effects of a rural life in how he sees things, thinks about things, understand things.

The culminating scene of a sexual encounter is a powerful one--startling, completely unexpected, and all the more emphatic of the film's theme, as stated by the director, on the basis of that very intensity.

Sometimes what you think you want is not what you actually do--because it is not what you really want. Sometimes you discover that what you thought you wanted was less than what life means to you. And so you then do what life really means you to do--your life. It's your choice.

Japon succeeds brilliantly because its simplicity--which is no doubt what the director was striving for--penetrates our thinking hearts, our feeling minds. A man, a much older woman, the land.

See it.

a true piece of art.......2006-03-11

I gotta say that this is a true piece of art! In every sense!
If you're looking for dumb simplicity then I'd suggest for you to view other more mainstream films because this one won't offer that. What you will get in this film is maturity and intelligence. As arrogant as it may sound it is the truth. There are no simple answers to life. And sometimes you'll get answers that have nothing to do with your questions. That is what this film explores. It's worthwhile if you got the time and patience.

bleak but full of life and introspection.......2006-03-06

The movie is somewhat disturbing, very raw, very artistic.

A weary man (with a love of art) from the city goes to the country seeking serenity, and then to end his life. He observes country folk, adults and children, and is initially pretty numb to it all. Over time he seems to soften and cannot bring himself to commit suicide. He observes some of the simplest animalistic and human instincts. Taking a couple of chances to experience a bit more before he ends his life shows him how his actions may have affected others. Be warned, there is some sexual footage in this film that is not for the squeemish!

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