Eric Lavallée

Incrementally perfecting his stylistic and narrative approach, in Japon and Battle in Heaven, Carlos Reygadas examined our will to live, defined how compassion and sympathy can sustain itself in dire trying moments, and he painfully, unflinchingly reminded us that there is nothing romantic about cruelty found in nature (violence brought about by humans). In his third feature, he examined such themes under the weight of the world or the gods above -- in my books the cinematic miracle known as Silent Light defies classification as it reaches far beyond the film patronage experience. Working with DP Alexis Zabé, with Post Tenebras Lux (literal translation, Light After Darkness), we should expect strong imagery, a deeply personal journey and a composition that the filmmaker described as “an expressionist painting where you try to express what you're feeling through the painting rather than depict what something looks like."

Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2013: # XX Insert title Director: INSERT Writer(s): INSERT Producer(s): INSERT U.S. Distributor: Rights Available Cast: INSERT () Intro: List Worthy Reasons times...

We haven't been this excited about senior citizen couplehood since Bergman's Saraband. Not that we have any problems with the more extreme samples in his filmography, but we welcome this change of pace for Haneke. Kudos to the Austrian filmmaker for tackling a rarely addressed subject matter head-on and for employing octogenarian screen legends Emmanuelle Riva (Hiroshima Mon Amour) and Jean-Louis Trintignant (The Conformist). The film also happens to be a third pairing with Isabelle Huppert (Time of the Wolf/The Piano Teacher).

Firstly, Hoffman saddles back in PTA land and will be given more screen time than Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch Drunk Love put together. Secondly, the tech crew is comprised of Mihai Malaimare Jr. who is using 65mm, Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood is laying the track, Production Designer David Crank (Tree of Life) and Jack Fisk are fitting this with a 50's look. I'd have a hard time finding a more proficient working director than PTA (David Lynch needs to come out of retirement) - I'd measure his impeccable track record next to anyone out there. There will be plenty of award season kudos for this one and once a premiere date is announced, the buzz should be of biblical proportions.

With a cast and tech crew (Emmanuel Lubezki, Jack Fisk) worth boasting about, I'm betting this will be the least ambiguous film in Malick's slender, four-decade spanning filmography.