Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana

Japn by Carlos Reygadas

Review by: Cynthia Tompkins
Chasqui, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Nov., 2006), pp. 194-197
Published by: Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana
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 194 Reviews

- -
ca?ulaMaria D'Ajuda (Tais Ara?jo/ L?a Garcia) mae, filha e av? dedicada ? s?mbolo de
maternidade mas tamb?m de independencia sexual, de gra?a generosa e sedu?ao.
agregadora,
Assim como sua sobrinha Selminha (Maria Cei?a), essas personagens sao arquetipos de Oxum,
mulheres que criam e buscam raizes e que estabelecem o ciclo de fertilidade e continua?ao das

tradi?oes.Os arquetipos dos orix?s se apresentam de forma fluida em proje?oes e intera?oes que
de um lado ecoam as narrativas do If? e por outro apontam para o entendimento de que os seres

humanos em suas complexidades, apesar de carregarem a for?a energ?tica primordial de um orix?,

apresentam caracter?sticas de outros orix?s.

Assim comoDaughters of theDust, Filhas do vento desenvolve um trabalho de representac?o

est?tica das tradi?oes cultur?is da diaspora africana, tradi?oes essas que sao essencialmente
teoc?ntricas. Traduzir esse conte?do para urna linguagem art?stica (literaria ou visual) ? um
trabalhoque s? pode ser executado em toda sua intensidadepelo artista que conhece e reconhece
a est?tica a informa - como
neste universo cultural religioso, que n?o decorativa ou perif?rica,

mas como central e carregada do potencial, do ax?, de afirma?ao positiva de beleza e felicidade.

Isis Costa McElroy, Arizona State University

Jap?n. Dir. Carlos Reygadas. Mexico, 2002. Dur. 130min.

Carlos Reygadas's Jap?n (2002) is a lyricalmovie structured through imagery rather than a
strong plot. It is anchored on aporia as a reflex of undecidability, insofar as the sketchy plotline
appears to withhold almost as much information as it provides. Quite appropriately, the film
begins with cars speeding through a tunnel. Positioned in thefront of a car, the camera registers
the passage through a wooded area. Images of land covered by high corn stalks transition into
semi-desertmountainous landscape.At thatpoint, we see a hand patting the hood of a bus, which
implies that the ride is over. Point of view appears to become more personal as the hand-held
camera takes inwhat the protagonist (theman?Alejandro Ferretis) sees. However, the camera
also fulfills a dual role by registering the scrawnyman's walk throughan area linedwith agave.
All of a sudden, a chubby redhead signals, asking him to duck. After some shots the boy runs
to fetch a pigeon. Thus, we learn about the hunting party, inwhich there is a cameo appearance
by Reygadas. The boy holds the pigeon hesitatingly. As theman asks for it,we don't expect him
to sever the bird's head. The camera zooms to the spasmodically moving head, perhaps awink
to Bu?uel's Un Chien andalou (1929). The man plucks the feathers and hands the bird's frail
body to the boy. The stereotypical assumptions about the role of hunting in the construction of
masculinity are played out as theman meets the boy's father,who also happens to be a redhead.
When theman asks for a ride down the cliff we realize they're on amesa. The camera continues
alternating between theman's point of view and that of a distant observer,which emphasizes the
beauty of the landscape.When the father inquiresabout the reason he wants to go to the neighbo?
ring village, theman replies, "to shoot myself," an abrupt enough answer to put an end to the
conversation. They drop him off on the hamlet half-way down. He is awakened by the noise of
a pig being slaughtered, and we infer he's spent the night at a butcher's shop.
As he treks on down, we realize he limps despite a cane. Upon arrival, he asks villagers for
lodging, but soon discovers he must get clearance from the community leader (Judge Rolando
Hern?ndez). As he prefers to live far from the village, they offer accommodations at a widow's
bam. Trekking up with Sabina (YolandaVilla), the grocer's wife, theymeet Aseen (Magdalena
Reviews 195

Flores), a very religious wizened woman, whose reservations about a lodger arise from
having
her advanced too old to take care of him-and the lack of running water.
age?she's
On the following day, theman goes down to the valley. At first we don't realize that the
shiny black squarewith slits for eyes, crossed out with red, is a painting. The work offers infor?
mation about theman's background, his feelings, and his habits, such as his close attention to the
changing landscape.As he returns from the valley, aman going in the opposite direction curses
him. Upon arrivalAseen offers him cold tea, but prefers not to divulge the traveler's identity.On
the following day, rain changes the hues of the surroundings.As theman sits smoking, listening
tomusic, and looking at a book of paintings, he invitesAseen to join him. The woman accepts
his offer to trypot, and in response to his request shows him the painting she prefers, aminima?
list rendition of lines, perhaps a self-reflexive reference to the title of the film.
As theman lies naked in bed he doodles with a gun, but ends up masturbating. Images of a
sand dune and a svelte girl in bikini walking away from the sea to kiss Aseen on themouth
would appear tomimic a dream, prefiguring perhaps thebeauty he has discovered in the old lady.
A telling incidenthappens when after a hearty dinner, she offers him a cup of "good coffee." As
she leans down to look for the pot, theman stares at the curve of her buttocks, despite her lean
body. A few minutes later, she signals to him and they awkwardly hold hands. On the following
morning Aseen tells theman that her nephew has come twice to claim the foundations of the
barn. The man leaves, and as he treks uphill he slips badly and in falling cuts the side of his
head, which starts bleeding. However, the focus is on themountainside, the changing light, and
the cloud formations, and the rain. Once at the top of themesa, he sees a dead horse, which
seems to have been castrated.The image is fitting, since theman appears to be ready to commit
suicide.He finally shoots and the camera goes foggy. Then (perhaps in a chopper) starts circling
the bodies going higher and higher, with the crescendo of an exquisite chorale as background.
The rain has a cleansing effect. As he returns to the village, he overhears the nephew's sons
making fun of Aseen, has himself bandaged by Sabina, enquires about Aseen's nephew, drinks
toomuch and becomes irritatedby Norte?a music blaring out of a boom box. After throwing it
on the floor, he is kicked out. Back at his lodgings, Aseen tells him they'll come to take the
stones on the following day. Though he attempts to convince her that her nephew has no right,
she replies, "es que no soy aferrada." Despite her sadness, she is fatalistically accepting. While

shewashes clothes by the river, theman is privy to themating of horses. That evening, as they
go up the cliff, he asksAseen if she's seen the sunset.Aseen, in turn, asks him what brought him
to the village. The man answers that he's left the city in search of serenity, to cast aside certain
things usually taken for granted. Later, he invites her to listen tomusic, and he admits that his
search awoke in him certain emtions and instincts.He blurts out, "en realidad, lo que me gustar?a
es tener relaciones con Ud." she repeats, "Ud. lo que es fornicarme ahora
Surprised, quiere
mismo." She prefers towait. Aseen goes to church and smiles at the brawny golden image of
Christ.Once both are naked, theman keeps asking her to change positions, to the sound of sheep
and chickens in the background. Finally, he gives up, crying, and she draws her gnarled hands
aroundhis head. The sounds of hammers crashing into thewalls startle them.Accompanied by
some of the communitymen Aseen's nephew is intenton taking the foundations. Though theman
attempts to stop them, he is cast aside as a cripple. Little by little the roof collapses. While the
men work, Aseen offers them pulque. Each one of the hewn white foundation stones requires the
strength of twomen to be moved. The stones are placed on two wagons, pulled by a tractor.As
they take the road down to the village, Aseen borrows theman's coat, promising to return it
shortly.The camera follows her for some time, sitting regally on thewagon.
 196 Reviews

As night falls, theman turns off the light.On the following morning, Sabina gives him the
news. Once again, we follow the camera traveling over railway tracks covered with small white
stones. A fire on the far side is all that remains of the tractor.Some bodies are strewn around,
others under thewagon. The cameramoves from one side of the tracks to the other; finally, fixed
on the tracks, it zooms back a considerable distance till it stops, focusing on Aseen's body, face
staring up, with hair or blood covering her face like lace.
According toRichard JamesHavis, "Jap?nwas shotwith unusual superCinemascope process
... on a 16mm camera, then blown to 35mm. . . . uses the frame for maximum
up Reygadas
effect on the landscapes.... But the relativemobility of the 16mm camera allows him to carry
out some adventurous hand-held experiments. The audacious, circling 7-minute shot, which closes

the film, tying up the story as it swoops in on the fates of the various characters, ismesmeri?
zing." However, the audience never finds out what drove theman to the village
to commit suicide; or, for thatmatter, why he did not carry through. Perhaps, being a painter,
he is redeemed by the breathtaking beauty of the landscape. Perhaps, by Aseen's kindness and
willingness to try new things despite her age. The fog thatfills the screen when theman shoots
is ambiguous, for itmay suggest a black-out or the sublime, which by definition, cannot be
described. In She Must be Seeing Things (1987) Sheila McLaughlin relies on blinding light
radiating from the canvas to suggest indescribable beauty. Indeed, the ever-widening and ascen?
ding circling shots of theman lying on themesa, facing the lushbeauty of the gorge, suggest the
sublime.Moreover, Reygadas resorts to the chorale to suggest that theman is in a different
mindset at several of the movie. Ironically, the man's Zen-cum-Existentialist quest is
points

juxtaposedwith the daily life of poor peasants. Aseen, for instance, has spent her life depending
on a mule for water, working throughout the seasons to eek a living. For all her Indian phe
notypes, she is assimilated, and following Marx's dictum of religion as the opium of the people,
she prays. Conversely, the man doesn't.

The sexual imagery is ambiguous. Symbolically, horses connote male sexuality. The image
of the castrated horse at the top of themesa is hard to pin down. Was the corpse really there?
Did theman imagine it?We assume not, since both bodies are framed when theman tries to
commit suicide. Once he has given up on killing himself, a horse mounting a mare propells the
narrative into the man's for sex, which on taboo, or the abject, the age
request hinges given
difference. Aseen addressess him as "joven" throughout themovie. The fact that he would ask
Aseen to have sex reinserts theman in the hegemonic construction of masculinity according to
which men act driven by urges. Thus, his impotence is ambiguous. Hegemonically, a flaw, but
an advantage if interpreted as a sign that he is no longer driven by instincts. In other words,
though the camera follows theman constantly we are kept in the dark regarding his past and his
streamof consciousness. Aporia, as a paradoxical degree of undecidability describes the film
insofar as his actions allow us to infer almost as much as what is withheld from us.
Aseen's predicament is more clearcut, and the audience feels for the woman. She knows that

the foundations of the barn anchor her home, which will not resist theweather afterward. By
giving them up, she signs her death sentence. Her acceptance, despite her awareness, may be

attributedto the self-sacrificing role expected of women inCatholicism. Furthermore, she is being
victimized by a close relative,which could very well have been her son. His betrayal, considering
that she used to visit him while he was in prison, is all themore galling. The implicit betrayal
of the community, which condones the action, is also telling. Despite the ambiguity regarding
Ascen's motivation in choosing to go down themountain on thewagon the denouement reads
like thepoetic justice of aGreek tragedy.While shemeets her death sooner rather than later, and
Reviews 197

knowingly, as suggested by her attempt to cloud her enemies's reasonwith pulque, her greedy
nephew and his accomplices are punished for exacting the proverbial pound of flesh. Though the
man never admitted his motivation, Aseen appears to have inferred it, and as part of an unspoken
pact, inmolates herself in his stead, in a perfect instance of theDerridean supplement.

Cynthia Tompkins, Arizona State University

Lista de espera. Dir. JuanCarlos Tab?o.Cuba, 2000. Dur. 107min.

En un viaje que hice a Cuba, poco despu?s de llegar o? a alguien en la calle decir que "Si el
surrealismo se hubiera inventado en Cuba, ser?a costumbrismo". En ese momento me pareci?
un a lo semanas en a
simplemente comentario gracioso, pero largo de varias la isla empec?

entender las condiciones que han inspirado tal humor c?nico. Al ver la pel?cula de Juan Carlos
Tab?o,Lista de espera (2000), un a?o despu?s, record? las condiciones que desde mi perspectiva
de norteamericana lindan con lo absurdo pero para los cubanos una realidad cotidiana.
reflejan
Tanto en Cuba como fuera de ella, Tab?o es un director conocido no s?lo por sus colaboraciones

con el ilustre Tom?s Guti?rrez Alea?Fresa y chocolate (1994) y Guantanamera (1996) se

cuentan entre las m?s celebradas?sino tambi?n por sus propios largometrajes que tratan el tema

de algunas circunstancias cotidianas con un matiz ?nicamente cubano.

La trama de Lista de espera gira alrededor de la experiencia de un grupo de personajes que

se encuentran abandonados en una estaci?n de autobuses en alguna parte del centro
pr?cticamente
de la isla. Cuando Emilio (Vladimir Cruz), el protagonista, llega a la estaci?n para emprender un
a Santiago, entra y se encuentra en medio de una especie de colmena: ancianos, ni?os,
viaje
hombres todos con sus maletas, bolsos o cajas de cart?n, sentados con una
y mujeres, algunos

postura desgarbada, todosmovi?ndose de alguna forma, gesticulando fren?ticamente o abanic?n?

dose. Entre el bullicio conoce a Jacqueline (Thaim?Alvari?o), una joven atractiva que necesita
a La Habana, donde su novio la est? esperando para llev?rsela con
llegar urgentemente espa?ol
?l a Europa. Entra en escena Rolando (JorgePerugorr?a), un ciego que pretende que lo pongan
al principio de la cola por ser ?l "un caso social", lo que provoca una reacci?n vehemente de

que se niegan a su sitio en la cola. un poco que

algunos viajeros perder (Descubrimos despu?s
Rolando finge su ceguera para inspirar l?stimay trato especial de los otros viajeros, y su enga?o
le funciona bastante bien.)
se desmorona una mujer
La calma relativa (o sea, el caos controlado) del ambiente cuando

Se?or, viene una y todos se van corriendo, sobresaltados, al and?n. Al

grita: "?Ay, guagua!"
ambiente de caos y frenes? se le a?ade una capa de frustraci?n y desilusi?n al darse cuenta todos
de que el conductor no ha parado por ellos sino ?nicamente por una joven voluptuosa vestida de

liera, y ha el camino. Todos vuelven desanimados a la estaci?n para esperar que se

seguido

arregle un autob?s estropeado, pero primero llega lamedianoche y Fern?ndez (Noel Garc?a), el
director de la estaci?n, anuncia que el terminal se tiene que cerrary que todos los viajeros deben
volver a sus casas para pasar la noche. La frustraci?n es evidente cuando con
algunos cumplen
el orden del compa?ero, gru?endo pero obedeciendo. No obstante, algunos viajeros indican que
no pueden volver a sus casas, mientras que otros, los hombros, expresan
encogi?ndose simple?
mente que no hay nada que hacer en casa y prefieren estar con los dem?s en el terminal.

Es en este punto cuando la historia a tomar unos pasos aunque gran

empieza inesperados:

parte de los viajeros s? salen de la estaci?n, una docena opta por quedarse a
aproximadamente