#3. To me, Japon and Battle in Heaven remain examples of experimental cinema that rubbed me in a wrong way but were strong samples of an auteur worth looking at for at work. So while I wasn’t totally convinced by his cinema, this changed when I finally got to see what is perhaps the most beautiful story visually captured on film this year (it was actually a 2007 film, had a week release I think at MoMA in the Fall, and gets a release at Film Forum next week) comes from Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas and his DOP Alexis Zabe. I was left paralyzed in my seat from the opening frame (which is later revisited) and forgot that I was watching an engrossing tragi-drama with non-actors.