Lav’s Golden Leopard winner in Locarno is an epic remembrance of a period of transition that marked the traumatic time of dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ rule. The film’s structure unfurls with slow power, growing increasingly complex, political, and emotional over its five-and-a-half hour story.
Powerfully transplanting Dostoyevsky’s epic Crime and Punishment to his native Philippines, Norte offers a marked departure from Lav Diaz’ earlier (and longer!) B&W films. Shot in gorgeous color, the film is a solidly structured, tightly plotted masterpiece that weighs in on injustice and guilt.
The Filipino master of slow cinema intertwines a story of impoverished treasure hunters with the tale of a drifting woman coming to terms with a damaged mind and body. Extraordinary handheld camerawork captures the minutest of details, bringing the struggles of life into stark reality.
One of the essential qualities of Lav Diaz is how he turns cinema into a testimony, one against exploitation, marginalization, and entrenched power. Perhaps none of his films is closer to personal testament than this address in remembrance of the murder of two important figures in the film industry.