Norte, the End of History
Description
Inspired by Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, art-house favorite Lav Diaz’s latest epic profoundly explores everything from the state of present-day rural Philippines to the 1890s Philippine Revolution against the Spanish. And it does it so without wasting a single scene of its 250-minute running time. Indie Filipino actor Sid Lucero gives a stunning performance as Fabian, an existential law school dropout who gets entangled in a small village’s feud: As one man is wrongfully imprisoned, the actual criminal thinks he’s escaped scot-free. What begins is a parallel journey in a drama that has garnered comparisons to Taiwanese master Edward Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day (SFIFF 1992), and that the Nuremburg International Human Rights Film Festival jury celebrated by awarding Norte the festival’s top prize, declaring “Through the subtle yet complex narration the film weaves together social, political, religious and literary aspects into an organic and humanistic whole.” This is a rare opportunity to experience a contemporary masterpiece on a theatrical screen. –Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
For over a dozen years, Lav Diaz has wowed international audiences with his epic, otherworldly cinema. Batang West Side (2001) a six-hour and 15-minute drama about the murder and investigation of a young Filipino immigrant in New Jersey was followed by his magnum opus Evolution of a Filipino Family (2004), which, with a running time of ten hours and 43 minutes, explored the ups and downs of a rural household from 1971-1987. Most recently Florentina Hubaldo, CTE (2012) presented a six-hour transcendental descent into its main character’s haunting psyche.
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/90707126?autoplay=1Film Details
Original Language Title Norte, hangganan ng kasaysayan
Year 2013
Runtime 250
Country Philippines
Director Lav Diaz
Producer Raymond Lee
Writer Lav Diaz, Rody Vera
Editor Lav Diaz
Cinematographer Lauro Rene Manda
Cast Sid Lucero, Archie Alemania, Angeli Bayani, Mae Paner, Soliman Cruz
Print Source The Cinema Guild/ gswindoll@cinemaguild.com