Japan

Name: Japan
Genre: Drama
Released: March 19, 2003
Duration: 122 min
Rating: 76

2003

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 9 Ratings

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4.8

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4.8	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 9 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Tartan | Release Date: March 19, 2003 | Unrated

Summary: Taking its title from the Japanese symbol of the rising sun, Reygadas unapologetically uses widescreen cinema, the most lush of formats, as a backdrop for exploring thorny issues of life and death. (Film Forum)

Director: Carlos Reygadas

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Unrated

Runtime: 122 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

John Powers

Japón, isn’t just the wildest eruption of the current Mexican film boom, it's the most fascinating new picture I've seen this year. Read full review

Manohla Dargis

Some filmmakers give us dreams and false worlds in which we can find refuge. For others, though, like the young Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas, the movies aren't an escape from the world but a way more deeply into it. Read full review

V.A. Musetto

Doesn't have the crossover appeal of the Mexican sexcapade "Y Tu Mama Tambien," but it does herald the arrival of an audacious young filmmaker. We can't wait to see what he does next. Read full review

Ty Burr

This crudely powerful film is a throwback. Unfolding at an elliptical pace that feels like a revelation, or tedium, or both, Japon recalls the glory days of 1970s art-house filmmaking. Read full review

Peter Rainer

Reygadas is both a sophisticate and a primitive: He sets up his film as a religious allegory, with the nameless painter as a kind of suffering Christ and the old woman--whose name is Ascen, as in Ascension--as his redeemer. Read full review

Scott Tobias

A dense, challenging work by any measure, Japón snakes toward a justly celebrated final shot that's technically astonishing and immensely powerful, cementing the arrival of a promising new talent. Read full review

Jami Bernard

Tough going for most audiences and should be considered more of a rough draft full of lofty ideas unevenly executed. Read full review

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User Reviews

Feb 17, 2006

This director is brilliant. It is an extremely slow film, but the director's eye is astonishing and he gives you a great sense of being in Mexico. If you like mainstream movies, stay away. If you like Antonioni and other dreamy, existential directors then check it out.

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