Battle in Heaven (2005)

Director: Carlos Reygadas

Marcos (Marcos Hernández) confesses to prostitute Ana (Anapola Mushkadiz) that he and his wife have kidnapped and accidentally killed a baby. Reygadas' follow-up to his flawed but hypnotic debut Japón (2001), Battle in Heaven shares that film's air of pretentiousness but justifies it even less, seeming to go on forever despite a substantially shorter running time.

The most superficially striking thing about the film is that again, Reygadas often chooses to focus on "frankly" depicting sexual acts that are distinctly unerotic and vaguely uncomfortable to watch, but what's the point? Elsewhere, we have long, seemingly inconsequential takes that wander with Marcos around an underground train station, crowded streets, a farm... Yes, perhaps it all "means" something, but what amount of meaning could justify this much tedium?

It's frustrating, because Reygadas clearly has potential - there are flashes of brilliance in Japón and, to a lesser extent, here - but immaturity and aspirations of grandeur simultaneously scupper each of the two works.