The issue with Post Tenebras Lux is that the narrative, not the filmmaker, feels dispiritedly half-baked.
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Slant MagazineEd Gonzalez
Slant MagazineEd Gonzalez
Carlos Reygadas's latest, an almost impossibly intellectual film, keeps us at a remove that's as striking as that which separates its main character from the lower classes.
The film’s said to be autobiographical, but that’s entirely left to us to guess.
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The PlaylistSimon Abrams
The PlaylistSimon Abrams
Post Tenebras Lux is certainly unique, but Reygadas is often intensely more interested in provoking his audience than actually fleshing out his heady ideas.
The title, signifying “light after darkness,” derives from the Latin translation of the Book of Job, an appropriate source given that a considerable amount of the prophet’s proverbial patience is required. Not that the pic doesn’t have its frequent rewards.
Pretty pictures alone do not in themselves great cinema make - not for the first time, Reygadas' waywardly wilful approach to screenwriting and structure severely outweighs whatever fleeting pleasures his movies may impart.