Battle in Heaven is less about heaven or battle, or hell on earth, or the soul of Mexico, and all too much about gawking. And so, for all the 'shock' of the movie's clinical carnality, this battle is lost.
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02/15/06
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Battle in Heaven (2006)
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%
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Reviews Counted:53
Fresh:23
Rotten:30
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: Though it tries to be provocative, Battle in Heaven is lethargic and mind-numbing.
Theatrical Release:Feb 17, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Cast entirely with non-professionals, Battle in Heaven tells the story of Marcos (Marcos Hernandez), the middle-aged chauffeur of Ana (Anapola Mushkadiz), daughter of a Mexican general. Marcos is... [More]
Starring: Marcos Hernandez, Anapola Mushkadiz, Bertha Ruiz
Director: Carlos Reygadas
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Reviews for Battle in Heaven
Top CriticDepicts the spiritual emergency of an amoral man in Mexico City who plunges into despair and turns to sex as a way out of his funk.
02/15/06
Promiscuously inhabiting several planes at once, Reygadas's restless inquisition may already be this year's movie to beat.
02/14/06
Top CriticA riveting work for anyone interested in how filmmaking devices can be used to make the whole greater than the sum of its individual parts.
02/11/06
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02/09/06
If you think that soft-core porno is stimulating, this pic will cure you of that fellat, uh, fallacy.
02/07/06
Reygadas' second film was dismissed in Cannes--unfairly, I think--as pretentious and portentous, and while it's not as impressive as Japon, its intense imagery and examination of how class, sexuality, guilt and religion interface offer some compensations.
02/07/06
Battle In Heaven is a noble effort from Reygadas but not exactly a good one. For such an involving premise, there is not much going on to keep interest.
01/24/06
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12/24/05
Inventive throughout, Reygadas' imagery becomes breathtaking in the closing scenes of religious pilgrimage, where Marco's existential crisis is brought to a harrowing head.
12/24/05
Battle In Heaven suffers from an infuriatingly slow pace and a certain air of impenetrable arthouse movie but it's worth persevering with for some striking imagery and some genuinely shocking scenes.
12/24/05
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12/24/05
Battle in Heaven is less an example of sophomore slump than it is a jaw-dropping exercise in misguided ambition.
12/24/05
9 Songs was sexy but meant nothing. Battle in Heaven is unattractive but meaningful.
11/22/05
Really boring, pointless and, well, bad.
10/01/05
To follow up Japón, Reygadas goes even further into Mexican metaphysics ... but he loses us in the process.
08/26/05
Both intensely exciting for its cinematic inventions and terribly uninvolving on emotional and dramatic levels.
05/16/05
A disappointing turn-off. The film deliberately works against most cinematic expectations.
05/16/05
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