Japón
In this preternaturally assured feature debut by Carlos Reygadas, a man (Alejandro Ferretis) travels from Mexico City to an isolated village to commit suicide; once there, however, he meets a pious elderly woman (Magdalena Flores) whose quiet humanity incites a reawakening of his desires. Recruiting a cast of nonactors and filming in sublime 16 mm CinemaScope, Reygadas explores the harsh beauty of the Mexican countryside with earthy tactility, conjuring a psychic landscape where religion mingles with sex, life coexists with death, and the animal and spiritual sides of human experience become indistinguishable. A work of soaring ambition and startling visual poetry, Japón is an existential journey through uncharted cinematic territory that established the singular voice of its director.
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director Carlos Reygadas, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New conversation between Reygadas and filmmaker Amat Escalante
- Video diary shot by actor Alejandro Ferretis during the film’s production
- Adulte, a 1998 short film by Reygadas
- Deleted scene
- Trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by novelist Valeria Luiselli, behind-the-scenes photographs, and a selection of Reygadas’s original storyboards
New cover by Sam Smith
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director Carlos Reygadas, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New conversation between Reygadas and filmmaker Amat Escalante
- Video diary shot by actor Alejandro Ferretis during the film’s production
- Adulte, a 1998 short film by Reygadas
- Deleted scene
- Trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by novelist Valeria Luiselli, behind-the-scenes photographs, and a selection of Reygadas’s original storyboards
New cover by Sam Smith
Cast
- Alejandro Ferretis
- The man
- Magdalena Flores
- Ascen
- Carlos Reygadas Barquín
- The hunter
- Martín Serrano
- Juan Luis
- Rolando Hernández
- The judge
- Yolanda Villa
- Sabina
- Claudia Rodríguez
- Woman in the dream
- Bernabé Pérez
- The singer
Credits
- Director
- Carlos Reygadas
- Written by
- Carlos Reygadas
- Producer
- Carlos Reygadas
- Producer
- NoDream Cinema
- Producer
- Producer
- Carlos Serrano Azcona
- Director of photography
- Diego Martínez Vignatti
- Filmed in
- Tronchet-Scope
- Sound
- Gilles Laurent
- Editor
- Daniel Melguizo
- Editor
- Carlos Serrano Azcona
- Editor
- David Torres Labansat
- Sound editor
- Ramón Moreira
- Production manager
- Gerardo Tagle
- Rerecording mixer
- Jorge Lerner
- Production design
- Alejandro Reygadas
- Production design
- Elsa Díaz Pirinoli
- Assistant director
- Bertrand Roland
- Second assistant director
- Julio Fernández Buxó
- Second assistant director
- Alejandro Ezpeleta
- Second assistant director
- Joshua Gil
A scene from Japón
