Comments on: SILENT LIGHT Review

By: Daniel Venzon

Daniel Venzon — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 03:28:24 +0000

If I had only a few words to describe this film, they would be Sparce, Spacious and Rich. Sparce because of the timing, slow and delibrate, spacious because of the large landscape cinematography, and rich with emotional fire, religious quietude, and denied feelings.
The taste of the movie remains Bergmanesque and the director schooled the actors to sit, look out and be meditative. the movie is recomendable.

By: geoffrey King

geoffrey King — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:33:05 +0000

It’s not a small point: the language of the film is in Platte Deutsche, a centuries old dialect of what is now hoch Deutsche.

Thanks

By: Menno Roundup: After the fast, the binge

Menno Roundup: After the fast, the binge — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:46:37 +0000

[...] gives the best explanation of why anyone should see a f**cking movie in [...]

By: James McNally

James McNally — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:51:25 +0000

Great review of a great film. The “pubcast” in question was also what (in part) prompted my film school enquiries. Lingering insecurities, I suppose…

By: md'a

md'a — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:30:09 +0000

Fair enough. (Though one final quibble: The run was less than a week only because MoMA is closed on Tuesdays.) I’m inclined to be pretty inclusive for fear that a given film may never turn up again, but it’s hard to know where to draw the line. A billion docs played for a week at the Village East in order to qualify for the Oscars, but is it really fair to say that e.g. OF TIME AND THE CITY “opened” last year, when it wasn’t reviewed and hardly anybody even knew it was there? Difficult to say.

By: Karina Longworth

Karina Longworth — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:35:29 +0000

I was only talking about SILENT LIGHT, and I really don’t think it’s that slippery of a slope. The MoMA screenings were part of a tribute to the filmmaker, and the film ran for less than a week. I guess we could quibble about this for weeks, but to me, that was more like a festival run and the Film Forum run is more like a commercial release.

By: md'a

md'a — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:15:31 +0000

What about the many films that Film Forum runs for one or two weeks that don’t have a distributor? Are those not “real” releases? Does it only count if someone’s trying to make a profit? That seems to me an arbitrary and potentially destructive distinction.

Lots of terrific films show up in NYC only at Anthology Film Archives — most recently In the City of Sylvia. I don’t think you can credibly claim that those runs are “more like festival screenings,” especially when they’re being reviewed by the Voice, NYT, etc. It’s great that New Yorkers are getting a second chance to see Silent Light, and I hope it plays there for months, but treating MoMA’s weeklong run last year as sorta pseudo will only discourage the city’s best venues from rescuing great films.

By: Nick Plowman

Nick Plowman — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:40:08 +0000

I love this movie that’s in fucking Mennonite, and find it odd that it is on DVD in my country but is only being released in theatres in NY now. Better late than never I suppose.

By: Karina Longworth

Karina Longworth — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:27:15 +0000

I didn’t mean for profit as in, not tax exempt. My understanding is that the run at MoMA was more like a festival screening, whereas at Film Forum, its been booked by a distributor (Palisades, who bought the Tartan library) and if it does well, it could potentially be extended. So let’s make it do well!

By: jk

jk — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:25:43 +0000

A quibble: Film Forum is just as non-profit as MOMA, though I’m not sure if there is a more traditional set up with the distributor and box office revenue this time around. I guess I’ve always been happy that New York has a lot of theaters that have mandates as cultural institutions to program interesting stuff, even if it means taking losses sometimes.

By: Toby

Toby — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:16:29 +0000

So wait… you’re saying it’s better than Dear Zachary?

By: John Dacapias

John Dacapias — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:31:52 +0000

Reygadas has always fascinated me, in that I wonder if he is an agent provocateur or something more. It looks like this film has shown him to be perhaps a Hispanic Bresson.