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La Ciénaga (2001)
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Reviews Counted:36
Fresh:31
Rotten:5
Average Rating:6.9/10
Theatrical Release:Oct 3, 2001 Limited
Synopsis: This Argentinean tale, which revolves around a group of families passing summer vacation in a rural country house, does not rely on a concrete plotline, but rather roves, rambles, and stumbles upon... This Argentinean tale, which revolves around a group of families passing summer vacation in a rural country house, does not rely on a concrete plotline, but rather roves, rambles, and stumbles upon each new event. The most notable characteristic of LA CIÉNAGA is its mood--a brooding, dreadful, fearsome tension that does not wain or cease even in the very last moment of the film. No event, no action, no exchange of words, no scene of the movie is more or less important than another. Instead, the film continues nonsequentially in what feels like a prolonged wait. Using gorgeous, realistic photography--of green mountains against a grayish humid sky, of the bright colors of summer swimsuits and shorts stained with blood or mud, of the simultaneously beautiful and disgusting human body--Lucrecia Martel's oeuvre is about strings of images and the suggestion of potential meanings. Never, however, does the director step over the line and reveal too much to her viewers. As characters come and go from the film's focus, maintaining a chilly distance from the viewer, LA CIÉNAGA unfurls slowly, languorously, and without closure. [More]
Starring: Mercedes Moran, Martin Adjemian, Leonora Balcarce, Silvia Bayle
Starring: Mercedes Moran, Martin Adjemian, Leonora Balcarce, Silvia Bayle, Juan Cruz Bordeu, Noelia Bravo Herrera, Maria Micol Ellero, Andrea Lopez
Director: Lucrecia Martel
Director: Lucrecia Martel
Screenwriter: Lucrecia Martel
Studio: Code Red
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Reviews for La Ciénaga
Oblique but potent, it's a film that will likely resonate with dispirited people everywhere.
There's a real energy in the way that La Cienaga takes nothing for granted -- except your attention and your intelligence.
A stunning deconstruction of bourgeois complacency in the face of pastoral decay.
La Cienaga is well worth the trouble finding -- and sitting through -- wherever it plays.
A dark drama cuts to the bone with its relentlessly bleak portrait of family life breaking down.
A strikingly well-directed, relentlessly dreary debut feature from Argentine director Lucrecia Martel.
It's entrancing and unsettling at the same time, the kind of film that makes you feel decadent just for bearing witness.
The triumph of La Cienaga lies in Martel's way of fashioning the kind of ensemble performance that draws us in by convincing us we're watching behavior, not acting.
I found it a fascinating fly-on-the-wall experience, seeing the kind of ugly moments a family would hide from us had we been officially invited in.
A gritty, accomplished work that will ultimately pay off if you can sort out the characters and their stories.
Martel can barely contain her disgust, and like Bunuel before her, she knows just when to cut the laughs and go straight for the throat.
[Martel's] technique works, often brilliantly, in depicting the hyper-real, unsettling atmosphere of a sometimes normal, potentially violent, mostly sick family.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 77% 77% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 24% 24% | G-Force |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 82% 82% | Paranormal Activity |
| 58% 58% | 9 |
| 44% 44% | Jennifer's Body |
| 58% 58% | A Perfect Getaway |
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