FILM SCREENINGS

Post Tenebras Lux

2012. Mexico. Directed by Carlos Reygadas. The exceptionally oneiric beauty of the 15-minute prologue—which features a toddler wandering around a muddy pasture among aggressive dogs and towering animals, eventually to be lost in a fury of thunder and lightning—introduces themes of innocence and brutality, tenderness and violence that are explored with poetic abandon throughout the film. In a kaleidoscopic vision (in which a literal red devil feels not out of place), the tranquil domesticity of a young couple with two small children setting up house in a lush forest for the summer is slowly scattered, as nature and culture collide and past, present, and future become jumbled. Director Reygadas fearlessly explores the opposing forces at the heart of humanity and nature itself. Post Tenebras Lux (from Job: “After darkness, light”), the maverick filmmaker’s most personal and challenging film to date, thoroughly divided audiences at the Cannes Film Festival, where Reygadas was awarded the Best Director Award. Print courtesy of Mantarraya Producciones. In Spanish; English subtitles. 120 min.