THE STORY – Amidst crashing waves and monumental rocks on a distant coast, two young couples open up a realm of shifting realities. Unbeknownst to them, a mysterious entity watches from high above with Godlike judgment.
THE CAST – Neli de la Rosa, Alexis Sánchez Alonso, Flor de León, Alexis Said Villa de León
THE TEAM – Carlos Reygadas (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 158 Minutes
Based on his filmography to date, a conventional narrative has long been far from the mind of Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas. Instead, he has often been quoted as wanting audiences to experience his films rather than follow them, and with his latest film, “Heil Jupiter!,” he is offering the audience quite the experience.
The film opens with various light configurations, almost hypnotizing us with their blinking shapes—a signal to let go of our conventional expectations of what the film will be. Only after a lengthy sequence of forceful waves roaring into shore do we finally recognize something human: flailing arms and feet trying to right themselves under the turbulent water.
Those limbs belong to our four protagonists, a quartet of young painters on a seaside lark. Lina (Neli de la Rosa) is the group’s instigator, always coming up with ideas for fun. By her side is her best friend Tzina (Flor de León), willing to go along but never taking the lead. Of the men, Lina & Tzina are probably closest to the baby-faced Milu (Alexis Sánchez Alonso), who is friends with everyone. Rounding out the quartet is the stable Said (Alexis Said Villa de León), a reliable guy who serves as the glue that keeps the group together.
As they move through the water, caressing their torsos, they begin to explore each other’s bodies. Though the young women have a natural ease with sensitive touch, Milu hesitates at the prospect of Said’s touch, suggesting it may be his first time with a man. Under Said’s firm hand, however, Milu relaxes and enjoys the sensual pleasure. That sensuality continues long into the evening when they join a group of cave painters to carry on an orgy by firelight.
In another film, these scenes might be considered extraneous or even exploitative. But for Reygadas, these scenes are key to the world he is building—one in which such sensual earthly pleasures meet the brutality of an authoritarian government. To underscore the coldness of such retaliation, Reygadas then captures a police crackdown in the most clinical way possible. He jumps in time and location to a wintry Poland, where a police squad is in hot pursuit of a suspect, their every move guided by AI and our only visuals being the helmet-cam of a pursuing officer. As the police knock down an apartment door and take hold of three children, they at last apprehend their prime suspect: Tzina.
The nature of the charges against Tzina are unclear at first but are later revealed in full: the criminal trial of Lina on charges of enjoying sensual pleasures, a crime strictly forbidden by the regime. Lina denies the charges, of course, but the evidence from the always-present surveillance cameras of the regime seems to point to her guilt. The trial quickly descends into chaos, however, when spectators realize that no one is safe from surveillance, not even Milu and Said.
If “Heil Jupiter!” were a conventional, narratively-driven film, the above synopsis would serve as a plausible blueprint for telling a story. But from its earliest moments, it’s clear Reygadas isn’t interested in a conventional film; instead, he uses the plot points as way stations between sets of imagery. Even in the film’s narrative sections, that emphasis on imagery continues. As the young quartet in the film’s opening caress each other’s bodies, Reygadas shoots it through a beveled lens, with images along the edges of the frame appearing doubled. It’s as if they are being watched by some otherworldly entity, looking down on them with some kind of Godlike judgment.
Other images appear seemingly at random, suggesting a kind of “dream logic” Reygadas has referred to in the past. Some are stunning: a collection of nighttime forest fires burning on a mountain prompted me to gasp at its beauty. Others are baffling: in what world are images of piglets as they’re being born and clinical footage of someone’s colonoscopy part of an overall theme? Look, just because visuals don’t lend themselves to ready interpretation doesn’t make them bad. But when they seem randomly selected under the idea of “dream logic,” what may be striking in the first hour of a film can lead to diminishing returns by the 2 1/2 hour mark. To further the “dream logic” of Reygadas’ approach, he even records the film’s dialogue in a made-up language, so as not to suggest that his depiction of an authoritarian government applies to any one country or group of people. (Not to worry, ample English subtitles are provided.)
In one sense, “Heil Jupiter!” succeeds best when its imagery summons the kind of awe and wonder that made many of us fall in love with movies in the first place. The visuals that cinematographer Daniel Valdes has captured in Mexico, Poland, and Norway are at times breathtaking in their expressive beauty. But imagery alone is empty if it doesn’t supplement a film’s message. Audiences need to be engaged on both fronts, and that’s where “Heil Jupiter!” falls regrettably short.
