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Movies / On DVD / La Ciénaga
La Ciénaga

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La Ciénaga (2001)

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Reviews Counted:36

Fresh:31

Rotten:5

Average Rating:6.9/10

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Dramas

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

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Feb 1, 2005

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Reviews for La Ciénaga

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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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.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
11/16/01
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
San Francisco Examiner

A disturbing narrative of anomie, bigotry, and dysfunctionality that holds up a revelatory mirror to human nature.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
10/20/01
Rod Armstrong
Rod Armstrong
Reel.com

"La Cienaga" literally means the swamp, and the film feels it: a hothouse atmosphere of heat waves and rainstorms and the mired feeling of life stuck in a social bog.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
03/08/02
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Martel glues together a disjointed picture of a society where tension lies only skin deep.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
11/29/01
Marta Barber
Marta Barber
Miami Herald

A wonder to look at, never less than in-your-face visually.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
11/30/01
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies

A dark drama cuts to the bone with its relentlessly bleak portrait of family life breaking down.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
10/13/01
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

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.

comment Comment
11/02/01
Jay Carr
Jay Carr
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

By its end we are glad to see the last of most of its characters, but we will not quickly forget them.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
10/19/01
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Seems designed only to shock and depress, a film devoid of much insight or humanity.

Full Review Source: Citysearch | comment Comment
10/04/01
Bilge Ebiri
Bilge Ebiri
Citysearch

the most remarkable debut in recent experience

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
07/02/05
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
Filmcritic.com

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.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
10/04/01
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Oblique but potent, it's a film that will likely resonate with dispirited people everywhere.

comment Comment
10/11/01
Bill Gallo
Bill Gallo
New Times

There may be whispers of reality to this abandon- all-hope vision of Argentina, but it's a truth presented didactically, without eloquence, vitality, or a mordant glimmer of spirit.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
10/11/01
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A stunning deconstruction of bourgeois complacency in the face of pastoral decay.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
09/21/01
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine

Look closely and you'll find something not often present in your average art-house flick -- a hint, intense and unsettling, of art itself.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
11/30/01
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Experiencing this film ultimately becomes as stimulating as watching metal rust.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
02/15/02
Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Within the first moments of her debut feature, La Ciénaga, writer/director Lucrecia Martel demonstrates a piercing sensibility and a sharp eye.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
10/12/01
Lucas Hilderbrand
Lucas Hilderbrand
PopMatters

Creates a vision of social malaise that feels paradoxically familiar and new.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
10/04/01
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Represents an auspicious debut by Argentinian writer-director Lucretia Martel.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
10/04/01
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A film that has an extraordinary cumulative power.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
10/18/01
Patrick Z. McGavin
Patrick Z. McGavin
Chicago Tribune
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