'Silent Light' Is A Stunning State Of Grace

Ok, we don’t really have that much time at the moment, but we just wanted to say Carlos Reygadas’ “Silent Light” was drop-dead stunning, and one of the most incredible moving and accomplished films we’ve seen all year.

It premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and is just now getting a release in North America. It’s U.S. release begins in New York the first week in January. We’ve been clocking the film all year, noting when it’s received acclaim and noted that it’s Mexico’s official selection for the 2008 Foreign Oscar category (despite being spoken almost entirely in Plautdietsch, a dialect of Russian Mennonites). We missed it when it hit New York in a one-off screening in the fall, but luckily just caught up with it.

Centering on a a very devout Mennonite facing a spiritual and moral crisis in the form of wanton adultery, Reygada’s marvelous ‘Light’ is easily the most aptly titled film of the year as it is wholly characterized by a gorgeous natural light that blankets the film like a godly sheen and a disquieting silence that pervades and acts as the soundtrack to the characters tortured inner thoughts and dramas.

Terrence Malick and (the great cinematographer) Nestor Almendros (and let’s not forget Haskell Wexler‘s semi-uncredited work) would be proud. It’s one of the most visually beautiful and emotionally shimmering pieces of work we’ve seen since, “Days Of Heaven.”

More later…we’re mostly ideologically opposed to last minute films breaking into ones Top 10 list, but something this good moves mountains and make exceptions.