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'Uncompromising aesthetic nerve... the searing debut of Mexico's Carlos Reygadas takes some beating'
- S F Said, DAILY TELEGRAPH
'Unforgettable'
- Akin Ojumu, THE OBSERVER
'Extraordinarily ambitious, painstakingly crafted first feature'
- Fiona Morrow, THE INDEPENDENT
'...an astonishingly confident debut...sheer audacity and originality'
'The film is shot with a kind of eloquence that is the opposite of simply prettifying... it has a lyrical and poetic power... a film that is uncomfortably difficult to forget... made by a director of whom a great deal more will be heard'
- Derek Malcolm, THE GUARDIAN
'... visionary and impressive feature debut...'
'... an exciting new talent.'
'... an earthy, visceral portrait of rural life.'
'... Japon looks and sounds terrific.'
'... a breathtaking, swirling ten-minute closing shot.'
- Sheila Johnston, SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
'... poetic, visually stunning first feature is one of the landmark films of 2002'
'..the power and beauty of Reygadas' mysterious, almost Biblical tale of love and redemption, its powerful narrative climaxing in one of the most extraordinary sequences in cinema'
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
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'A powerful tale of love and redemption...'
'... sees the 31-year-old Mexican emerging as a world-class talent and follows AMORES PERROS and Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN as further confirmation of the exciting wave of new talent currently emerging from Mexican cinema.'
SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
'... with JAPÓN, Carlos Reygadas shows that the tide of brilliant Mexican cinema continues to swell.'
- Fiona Morrow, SUNDAY TIMES
'A powerful tale of love and redemption...
...Emerging as a world-class talent and follows AMORES PERROS and Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN as further confirmation of the exciting form of Mexican cinema.'
- Shane Danielsen, SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
'...a mysterious and beautiful film.'
'Perhaps the most accomplished directorial debut of the year, this extraordinary feature - an epic meditation on life and death, and an investigation into the possibility of redemption - was runner-up for the Camera d'or, in Cannes'
EDINBURGH FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 2002
 'Carlos Reygadas' debut feature is a poignant testament...'
'...as miraculous as it is moving...'
'Sincerely inspirational.'
- David Parkinson, EMPIRE
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'A majestic Mexican drama'
'A highly impressive debut which underlines the recent resurgence in Mexican cinema'
- Geoffrey Macnab, UNCUT
'A remarkable debut...that quite literally expands the horizon of contemporary cinema'
'Both enigmatic and earthy...brutally beautiful, poetic...and ultimately, transcendent in a manner that recalls Tarkovsky and Bela Tarr. Reygadas is a new master of cinema'
- David Cox, i-D
'... A magisterial work...
'... directorial tour de force.'
'... audacious, strange and singular masterpiece.'
EDINBURGH FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 2002
'this Mexican film is extraordinary.'
- Wendy Ide, THE SUNDAY HERALD
'... Born of an extraordinary level of self-assurance from a young Mexican who with his first feature seems to have emerged fully formed as a film-maker'
'... A painterly use of Scope photography and a pin-drop sensitivity to the location’s ambient sound lends JAPÓN a particular visceral quality'
- Demetrios Matheou, SIGHT & SOUND
'The film is a paean to the canyon and the people who live there. It is also a huge palpitating metaphor that breaks taboos with the force of a hammer against stone, revealing a terrible beauty amid the lingering stench of decay.'
TIME OUT PARIS
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'Carlos Reygadas' debut must count amongst the most audacious ever made.'
'...JAPÓN is a starting piece of work, combining sound and image into a symphonic movement that sweeps the viewer up.'
'... the film itself is an ambiguous work that tantalises the audience with its meaning.'
'... Reygadas indicates what an innate feeling of cinema he has, as JAPÓN becomes a visual and aural expression of that nature of humanity and mortally.'
'JAPÓN is the work of a director destined for worldwide acclaim on the arthouse circuit.'
FILM FOUR.COM
'There's much to admire in Carlos Reygadas's debut feature, from the striking 16mm...landscapes to the considered exploration of faith in modern Mexico'
'Satisfying story'
'Both touching and powerful in its simplicity'
'Essentially compassionate cinema'
- David Parkinson, RADIO TIMES REVIEW
'Bold'
'Utterly engrossing'
'Superbly shot'
'In short, it's mesmerising'
- Geoff Andrew, TIME OUT
'Any way you look at it, JAPON is extraordinary. A tale of sanctuary and spiritual rebirth'
'...turbulent, hypnotic...beautiful bleached-bone photography'
- Xan Brooks, THE GUARDIAN
'...Must count amongst the most audacious debut ever made'
'...A startling piece of work, combining sound and image into a symphonic movement that positively engulfs the viewer'
'Haunting...a visual and aural dwelling upon humanity and mortality'
'As enigmatic as it is beguiling'
- James Mottram, WHAT'S ON
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'JAPON is the best Tarkovsky film Tarkovsky never made'
'First-time Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas lays before us 137 minutes of mesmerising minimalist cinema'
'The widescreen landscapes could be by Corot or Salvador Dalí...'
- Nigel Andrews, FINANCIAL TIMES
'A startling Mexican debut'
'A beautifully meditative film'
'...for some it will be brave and beautiful'
'A startling achievement for director Carlos Reygadas and cinematographer Diego Martinez Vignatti...almost miraculous in its confidence and visionary calm'
- Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN
'This...elegiac, good-looking movie...'
'The mystical inflections and dark rumblings of Andrei Tarkovsky hang over the film like a storm over the parched-dry landscape'
- Roger Clarke, THE INDEPENDENT INFORMATION - THE BEST FILMS
'So rare are films these days that...endeavour to invoke metaphysics, through supremely accomplished camerawork as much as through dialogue'
- Sukhdev Sandhu, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
 'A distinctive and timeless fable...unquestionably an exquisitely crafted visual poem'
- Stephen Dalton, TIMES PLAY
The 5 Best Films (No 2)
'Elegiac, good looking movie...suffused with the influence of Andrei Tarkovsky'
'This enigmatically titled and audacious debut...is a fine addition to the formidable output of modern Mexican cinema'
'Its lyrical, questing cinematography and swooping final shot is worth the ticket price alone'
- Roger Clarke, THE INDEPENDENT INFORMATION
'Poetic, elegant and at times, shattering first film'
'Carlos Reygadas' debut must count amongst the most audacious ever made'
'A lyrical meditation on life and death...a startling piece of work, combining sound and image into a symphonic movement that sweeps the viewer up'
'...The film is given a haunting verisimilitude through its use of non-professional actors'
'JAPON becomes a visual and aural expression of that nature of humanity and mortality'
'JAPON is the work of a director destined for worldwide acclaim on the arthouse circuit'
James Mottram - FILMFOUR.COM
'The ambitious first feature of writer-director Carlos Reygadas is the work of an exceptionally talented filmmaker'
'Inspired by Tarkovsky's mystical epics, Reygadas has fashioned a slow-burning meditation on life and death, faith and rebirth'
'Stunning, otherworldly landscapes are impressively photographed...in distinctively bleached-out tones'
'The closing tracking shot...is quite magnificent'
- Tom Dawson, BBCi FILMS
'This meditation on mortality and sexuality is pretty far removed from the incendiary helter-skelter of Amores Perros and its ilk...brooding and pensive...melancholic'
'The film looks magnificent and has an idiosyncratic charm'
- Wendy Ide, BBCi COLLECTIVE
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