{"id":574,"date":"2008-10-11T13:33:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-11T18:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/?p=574"},"modified":"2011-04-23T16:03:46","modified_gmt":"2011-04-23T21:03:46","slug":"dvd-los-muertos-alonso-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/2008\/10\/dvd-los-muertos-alonso-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Los Muertos (Alonso, 2004)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I saw Lisandro Alonso’s newest film Liverpool<\/span> in the Toronto Film Festival last September and didn’t think much of it. Given all of the positive reviews it has gotten from people I trust very much, I decided that I just wasn’t in the right mood to see it. I had something very particular that was lingering on my mind for a few days, and it proved to be a very huge distraction from such a slow-paced film that relies on the viewer’s ability to contemplate the film in its open spaces and long stretches of plotlessness, and I filled those gaps with something totally unrelated to the film and its themes. So I will have to see Liverpool<\/span> again (though, given that only one of his films is available on DVD with English subtitles (Los Muertos<\/span>), it might be awhile before I have another opportunity).<\/p>\n

So I decided to check out Los Muertos<\/span>, since it was available to me, and also happens to be Alonso’s best reviewed film, at least until Liverpool showed up. Despite being comparably paced to Liverpool, I was very much engaged and compelled throughout the entire film, especially in the final 15 minutes. All of this was even more surprising to me since I started watching the film while I was already a bit sleepy and tucked into my bed, approaching midnight. I credit most of this to the great opening of the film, a single take that stakes a sturdy and gripping enough foundation to sustain my attention for the first 45 minutes where not much happens and not much is explained.<\/p>\n

Alonso makes great use of his setting in the forests that surround Vargas, the protagonist. With bright green trees in every direction, the forests are alive in a way that makes the film’s title (in English, The Dead<\/span>) come off as an ironic joke. As when the forest blows out into a solid green matte at one point, Vargas could almost be confused to be walking in front of a green screen.<\/p>\n

As in Liverpool<\/span>, the core of the film seems to be about the reunion that occurs between family members who have been separated over great lengths of time. The last shot, lingering on a seemingly insignificant object belonging to Vargas’ grandson, is both a symbol of the life he indirectly is responsible for, and is the first memento he has in which to associate with his new attempt at a family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I saw Lisandro Alonso’s newest film Liverpool in the Toronto Film Festival last September and didn’t think much of it. Given all of the positive reviews it has gotten from people I trust very much, I decided that I just wasn’t in the right mood to see it. I had something very particular that was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3433,"href":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions\/3433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blakewilliams.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}