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Japón
EMAILPRINTVitagraph Films / American Cinematheque

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 14 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 9 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Foreign
Written by: Carlos Reygadas
Directed by: Carlos Reygadas
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 19, 2003
DVD: October 12, 2004
Running Time: 122 minutes, Color
Origin: Mexico / Spain
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Alejandro Ferretis, Magdalena Flores, Yolanda Villa, Martín Serrano, Rolando Hernández, Bernabe Pérez, and Fernando Benítez
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)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Film Forum Profile
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
LA Weekly John Powers
Japón, isnt 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 >Los Angeles Times 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 >New York Post 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 >Chicago Tribune Patrick Z. McGavin
The work of a remarkable new talent. By the movie's towering, final tracking shot, this imaginative, dazzling film achieves distinction.
Read Full Review >Variety David Rooney
Its powerfully visual storytelling delivers great rewards as the meditative drama moves into increasingly complex, at times confrontational territory.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe 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 >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
It's an engrossing and inventive drama despite its flaws.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
Luckily Mr. Reygadas has talent to match his ambitions; or, rather, gifts that undercut them sufficiently to give his film a prickly, haunting poignancy.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
This strange and beautifully expressive film set in a remote Mexican canyon has nothing whatsoever to do with Japan, but its themes are as universal as they come.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine 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 >The Onion (A.V. Club) 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 >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
The one thing that is clear from Japón is that a major new visual stylist has hit the screen and that Reygadas first film represents the beginning of an auspicious career.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News 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 >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
TJ gave it a10:
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.
John N. gave it a 1:
Watch out for these art-film types who think this bore-fest is beautiful. It surely had an odd lot of characters. The group of workers and the singer was like a bad acid trip. I watched half of this movie with one eye opened, the other half with both eyes shut!
Vince H. gave it a 10:
If you are a fan of long-take, slow paced but beautiful films of directors like Abbas Kiarostami, Andrei Tarkovsky, Hou Hsiao-hsen, Tsai Ming-Liang & Manuel De Oliveira then you will love this movie. One of the most amazing films I've ever seen. The way Reygadas uses the widescreen camera is amazing and the much-touted last scene is one of the most amazing travelling shots ever composed on film. No joke.
M Miki gave it a 0:
The movie was horrible. It was incredibly slow and tedious, with long lengths of time devoted to watching a 50-year old guy sitting doing nothing with no dialogue and no music. It was painful to watch. And it was disgusting. Ten minutes are spent watching a naked 50-year old guy stroke his thing, and 15 minutes to watching the same guy have intercourse with a naked 80-year old lady. Avoid this movie like the plague.
Engin gave it a 9:
The immensely powerful closing tracking shot should be enough of a reason to see this mesmerizing fable. I welcome Carlos Reygadas to the soon-to-be-one-of-the-greatest directors hall. May he continue making amazing films like his first one...
