Zama

2017 drama

Rating: 16/20

Plot: Not much of one. The titular guy's an officer in South America or somewhere like South America and would rather be somewhere else. A llama is involved .

It's a shame that I identified so much with this pitiful character. No, I've never knocked up a peasant girl or worn a three-cornered hat or had a llama intrude on my conversations, but there's something so identifiable about this guy who doesn't like where he's at, desperately wants out of where he's at, and can't escape where he's at. It's a peaceful-enough hell, maybe as halcyon a hell as you can possible hope for, but it's still a hell for poor Zama because it's not where he feels like being. He's drifting while remaining in one spot for the majority of his story, managing with in that three-cornered hat to look both heroic and pathetic as he strikes a pose on the shore on the poster for the movie. Zama's in nearly every shot, but he has no control over his space and time, and his wig doesn't really seem to fit correctly.

I also identify with the llama as well, popping into somebody else's personal hell and being completely ignored by all there.

Lucrecia Martel is not a director I know, but I liked her both her visual and storytelling styles here, like Herzog tackling Godot or something. And she knows how to direct a llama! There are some really good looking shots throughout this, and I really like what happens in foregrounds and backgrounds here. There's a haunting quality to some of those backgrounds after the Zama character is forced to move. And the final shot is a real stunner!

This moves glacially and never really goes anywhere until Zama, suddenly bearded, decides to go somewhere. This won't appeal to every viewer, and it took me a while to fall into its lazy-river rhythms, but for certain cinephiles, this one will connect.

Also--llamaphiles will dig it.