Review of Melancholia (2008) by Tony E — 12 Oct 2018

At over 7 1/2 hours Melancholia is Lav Diaz's longest film. It is also his most complex and inconclusive. The film concerns three characters: Alberta, Julian and Rina. Initially they appear as a prostitute, a pimp and a nun but they are not what they seem.

As the identities and roles of the characters change, the film penetrates the sadness and loss that each of them suffers and the masks that they wear to conceal their suffering. Dreams, illusion and reality flow into eachother as the horror which the characters have experienced is brought into sharp focus.

Bizarre, surreal episodes that are only barely explained such as the therapy session performed by Julian sit alongside the scenes in the forest where Alberta's husband Renato who has joined the communist rebels is hunted down by the military.

Lav Diaz has made some very beautiful, challenging films but Melancholia is a particularly wonderful piece of cinema.