La Cienaga

I have become a fan of Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel and saw that Criterion has put out an edition of her debut film La Cienaga (2001), so I decided to get a copy. It is an unconventional film in that it is an ensemble piece about a family in the fictional city of "La Cienaga" (the swamp) that is based on Martel's home of Salta. The film does not take a single character's point of view and very little happens in the film in terms of plot, but there are several arresting images and sound is a key component of Martel's cinema-especially in the arresting opening scene where a group pf adults lazily drink in excess in steel chairs near a dirty swimming pool when one of ht4e women falls over and breaks her glass cutting herself and none of the other adults help her. The maid and the woman's daughter help her into the house and clean her up. It seems as though ellipsis' prevent the viewer form really seeing all that is going on in the film. It captures the slow dissolution of a bourgeoisie Argentinian family. The Criterion extras include: a new 4K digital film transfer, approved by director Lucrecia Martel, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, a new interview with filmmaker Andrés di Tella about Martel and the film, the trailer, new English subtitle translation, and an essay by critic David Oubiña.