Few attendees at this year’s Cannes Film Festival could have missed the poster for Battle In Heaven. The seductive image of Ana, one of the films central figures, was blasted everywhere about town and brought back memories of the same festival two years earlier when director Carlos Reygadas was making a similarly big splash with his debut feature Japon. The striking posters for both films provide the first inkling of the Mexican director’s unique visual style. His approach is to let the camera roam to whatever catches his attention – whether it’s the beads of sweat on central character Marcus’s forehead as he reminds himself that he and his wife have ruined their lives by kidnapping a neighbour’s baby who subsequently dies or the back of Ana’s bobbing head as she performs almost lyrical fellatio on the same man, her father’s driver whom she’s known since childhood. Reygadas also demonstrates a unique eye for casting – utilising non actors alongside professionals who fill the roles in a way it’s hard to imagine anyone doing otherwise. Marcos for example is played by an old friend, Marcos Hernanez who worked with his father in the Ministry of Culture and also had a small role in Japon. The result is a film whose frenetic events are translated with a calm and objective clarity that serves to highlight the mystery within all our lives. SB
