Jauja (2014, Lisandro Alonso) (Patreon)

41/100

Second viewing, no change. I didn't write (or even tweet) anything from TIFF '14, and my previous Letterboxd "review" is a brief shoulder shrug posted six months after the fact (presumably in response to its U.S. theatrical release), so let's see whether I can better articulate why Alonso remains one of my least favorite world-cinema mainstays. The problem, in its most basic sense, is by no means hard to pinpoint: I find his films crushingly dull, offering me virtually nothing that I consider of any interest whatsoever. That's true again here for roughly the first hour, which is devoted to tedious expository conversations (a new element for him!) and a solo Searchers journey practically devoid of conflict. Sadly, it doesn't appear that Michael Sicinski ever wrote much about Jauja, either—I suspect that he'd have much to say about Alonso's gift for Academy-ratio composition, which I acknowledge and to a degree (albeit not nearly enough of one) appreciate. To love this movie from start to finish, one must derive much more pleasure than I do from striking foreground/background relationships, shots that obscure man and beast with foliage, horizon lines that bisect the frame. Cinema as an alternate form of painting just isn't my thing (though I nonetheless tend to dig early Greenaway, perhaps because he throws in so much playful structuralism). Right after Ingeborg disappears, Dad pulls his sword a few inches out of its scabbard and slams it back; the small yet still hugely uncharacteristic jump cut that Alonso employs at that moment was like water in the desert for me. Jauja eventually swerves in a way that's bizarre enough to grab my attention...but even then, I can't really claim to be more than mildly intrigued by the inexplicable wormhole that opens up. Why someone would choose to make this particular film remains mysterious to me, and so, I'm afraid, does the enthusiasm demonstrated by many of my peers. (Skandies #16, 2015. Which is why I watched it again. Well, that plus a Kanopy play was about to expire.)