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The Worst Film Ever

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Nearly impossible to review without spoilers, the bulk of the narrative action occurs in the final half-hour of 'Jauja'. The first hour and a quarter is almost deceptively different from the final 30 minutes as it spins a rather simple tale of a soldier searching for his daughter in the wilderness after she elopes with one of his lieutenants in the middle of the night. Things change towards the end though as he discovers a cave inhabited by an elderly women who (through her unusual questions) we come to realise is his daughter, grown up. As he has not aged, it soon becomes apparent that he is a ghost - a restless spirit who kept wandering even after death until he finding his child. The final fifteen minutes are even stranger though, and whether one takes it as his dream of a life of richness for his daughter (for whom he said never really knew a real home) or something else - is entirely open to interpretation. Fascinating as all this might sound though, the film is never especially engaging with its twenty page script expanded to a film close to two hours in length. Some of the lethargic shots that bask in the natural vistas are pleasant enough, but why so long is spent merely watching lead actor Viggo Mortensen get dressed or watching his daughter sleep for minutes on end, is a mystery. Tension invariably dissipates with so little happening on screen, and powerful though the twist might be, it would have certainly been even more effective in an intense short film less half its length. If one has the patience though, it is admittedly a thought-provoking ride.

I don't mind riddles, I hate unfair ones, where you're not given the means to solve them. In Jauja, it's even worse, the viewers are being misled into thinking they're getting hints for the solution of the mystery - not true all we get is more riddles. I doubt Lisandro Alonso and his script writer, know themselves or even care about the solution of the mystery we're presented with. Antonioni did the same in L'avventura, but he was honest about it, he made it clear that the mystery wasn't the issue here. In Jauja we are led into believing that the mystery will unravel in a second or two only to find out this was never the intention of the film makers. Which made me feel like I was being regarded by them as simpleton and I don't like feeling so. Adding insult to injury, the film is shot superbly with a very high command over all the technical aspects, keeping the camera still as the on screen action is, namely moving it only on rare occasions and at a very slow pace. But having the technical knowhow, is not enough, I said it more than once and I'll say it again, if you don't know what your movie is about, don't waste our time with it, either wait until you do know, or simply don't make it.

This reminds me a lot of Gerry. This is a deep and very experimental film, not really a film that would be easy to recommend to casual audiences at all. It was surprising to see viggo mortensen in a role like this, and he does well, sort of. It's hard to really grasp how to judge him and the film around him. What I will say is that, just on that aspect, the film just wasn't very intriguing and that's really the one failing that makes or breaks a film. I was bored, and I rarely like to use that as a criticism but it is in this case. I definitely don't recommend it, even if I feel like there are some nice scenes here and there and some great cinematography. It's a film I don't like but I don't hate because it's still something different.

This film eases even the most savage man. It's a movie that must be seen with calm and patience due to its "low-revolutions" script. The world created for this story is more than great; in less than five minutes we feel immersed in this appeased lands of introspective and humidity, tons of humidity. I get my hands off the keyboard to applaud Lisandro Alonso and Fabian Casas for the sublime script. Choosing to play with such an abstract theme as it is the "dreaming/paralel world/spiritual trip" is admirable but challenging and they got through it in the most smooth way. Even though I really enjoyed Jauja I was left with a bittersweet taste, and this taste was brought by the format/size the movie was projected (4:3). I felt that my heart was ripped apart with each landscape maimed. My regards, Guido.