PABLO ESCOTO LUNA: ALL THE LIGHT WE CAN SEE/TODO LA LUZ QUE PODEMOS VER (2021) - NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS 2021A new variation on ancient Mexican legends Between Popocatépetl and Ixtaccihuatl, one day before the war. Maria, forced to marry a bandit, escapes her fate and runs away into the woods in the company of El Toro. Rosario, in love with an assassinated general, weeps on his tomb dug into the side of a volcano. All of them are destined to wandering and error; all climb, fall and are beset by doubt, all are adrift and lost in the night." So the director, Pablo Escoto Luna, who is 24, describes the premise of his film,
Todo la luna que podemos ver/All the Light We can See. Using simiple, sometimes primitive film methods and untutored actors, the director follows a very slow, meandering path, out in beautiful landscapes around the volcanoes Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl in the Valley of Mexico, in telling the story of a woman who will do anything to be united with her lost love. but Escoto Luna interweaves multiple stories and a while bibliography of sources ranging from Garcia Lorca to Hannah Arendt. For a better idea of the complexity of this young director's (still basically simple and pure) canvas, see Daniel Gorman's comments in
In Review | Online.The review for
THE FILM STAGEcalls thie film "mostly successful"noting its style method is "risking vagueness and grandiosity" but thinks it "worth remembering. I thought of some of the films of Eugène Green. However this young man has not yet reached Green's level of confidence. Not to be confused with the New Directors/New Films closing night film, Theo Anthony's
All Light, Everywhere. Todo la luz que podemos ver/All the Light We Can see, 123 mins., debuted May 3, 2021 at FTD Marseille. It was was screened at home for this review as part of the MoMA/Film at Lincoln Center series New Directors/New Films (Apr. 28-May 8, 2021). It screens virtually May 5-10. Last Chance to Rent May 11, 6:00 PM ET.