{"id":6629,"date":"2016-10-05T00:18:04","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T23:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=6629"},"modified":"2017-05-08T03:15:11","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T02:15:11","slug":"the-untamed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2016\/10\/05\/the-untamed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Untamed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"the-untamed-2\"<\/a>
The Untamed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nSeen at L\u2019Étrange Festival, Paris (France)<\/a>

\nFormat:<\/B> DVD + Blu-ray

\nDistributor:<\/B> Arrow Academy

\nRelease date:<\/B> 22 May 2017

\nDirector:<\/B> Amat Escalante

\nWriters:<\/B> Amat Escalante, Gibrán Portela

\nCast:<\/B> Kenny Johnston, Simone Bucio

\nOriginal title:<\/B> La región salvaje<\/i>

\nMexico, Denmark, France 2016

\n100 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Amat Escalante\u2019s SF exploration of Mexican society\u2019s attitudes to sexuality is compelling despite its overuse of the supernatural.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Two Mexican films shown this year at the Etrange Festival \u2013 The Darkness<\/i> and The Untamed<\/i> \u2013 happen to focus on a small house in a forest clearing where strange things happen. But this is as far as the comparison extends. Awarded the Silver Lion for Best Director at this year’s Venice Film Festival<\/a>, Amat Escalante\u2019s The Untamed<\/i> borrows its premise from Pasolini\u2019s Theorem<\/i><\/a>: a family is disrupted by the arrival of a very attractive stranger who seduces all of its members and turns theirs lives upside down. Where Pasolini was lashing out at the Italian bourgeoisie of the 1960s, Escalante similarly confronts a contemporary Mexican society still hopelessly bogged down in machismo, misogyny and homophobia. <\/p>\n

The opening sequence, which contrasts two visions of female sexuality, gives a good insight into what Escalante is driving at. After a shot of a meteorite in outer space, the camera zooms on a naked Veronica (Simone Bucio) slowly reaching a climax in a dark room, eventually revealing a glimpse of the receding long tentacle that has just given her pleasure. She then leaves the wood cabin wounded and bleeding. In the next scene we witness a couple \u2013 Angel (Jesús Meza) and Alejandra (Ruth Ramos) \u2013 waking up in a sunlit bedroom. Without any preliminaries or even a kiss, Angel takes Ale from behind while the camera zooms in on her face, still and expressionless on the pillow as she waits for him to come. She then wipes herself, gets up and masturbates under the shower until she is interrupted by their kids\u2026 After meeting Ale\u2019s gay brother Fabian (Eden Villavicencio), who works as a nurse in the local hospital, Veronica intrudes into the lives of those three characters, changing them for ever. <\/p>\n

She is the visitor here, and Escalante plays on the name given to Terence Stamp\u2019s character in Theorem<\/i>, as the Visitor in this story is also an alien creature from outer space. The director justifies his recourse to the supernatural by the fact that reality has already gone beyond fiction, but by including a long explicit sex scene between Ale and the alien (and why not one of the men?) \u2013 which was greeted by laughter among the audience of the L’Étrange Festival \u2013 he undermines more than he enhances the film\u2019s social criticism. In Possession<\/i><\/a> (1981), Andrzej Żuławski (whose influence is acknowledged in the final credits) explicitly opted for the realm of madness, altogether forsaking realism. But Escalante wants to have it both ways and fails to solve the conflict between the genres. Showing the demon in Possession<\/i> made sense in order to blur the boundaries between fantasy and reality. But since Escalante\u2019s alien is established as real from the outset, it is hard to see the point of a sex scene that, far from producing the disturbing effect it had in Żuławski, seems to be revisiting Hideki Takayama\u2019s manga and animés with an Overfiend redesigned by H. R. Giger. Escalante would have been better advised to follow the example of his Mexican compatriot Daniel Castro Zimbrén in The Darkness<\/i> and retain more mystery, so that the otherworldly presence might serve more efficiently as a metaphor for the Mexican social atavisms he has been so brilliantly exposing in his films since his 2005 feature debut Sangre<\/i>. The Untamed<\/i> tones down the violence that shocked in Heli<\/i> (2013) or Los Bastardos<\/i> (2008) in favour of a more diffuse atmosphere of sadness and despair that still succeeds to convey Escalante\u2019s powerful social message \u2013 despite, rather than thanks to, the alien\u2019s presence. <\/p>\n

Pierre Kapitaniak<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

The untamed screens at the London Film Festival on 8, 10, 16 October 2016.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amat Escalante\u2019s SF exploration of Mexican society\u2019s attitudes to sexuality is compelling despite its overuse of the supernatural.
\nReview by Pierre Kapitaniak<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,6],"tags":[809,105,381,32,73,833,813],"class_list":["post-6629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-check-it-out","category-festivals","tag-alien","tag-mexican-cinema","tag-pasolini","tag-sci-fi","tag-science-fiction","tag-sf","tag-supernatural"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"L\u2019\u00c9trange Festival 2016","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-1IV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":241,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2007\/12\/02\/km31\/","url_meta":{"origin":6629,"position":0},"title":"KM31","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"December 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Supernatural horror thriller KM31 became a huge hit at the Mexican box office after its release in February this year, grossing an impressive $15 million. The film marks Rigoberto Casta\u00ed\u00b1eda's debut as a director and as such serves as a showcase of his diverse horror influences. Review by Lindsay Tudor","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema releases"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema releases","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/cinema-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":375,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/07\/01\/the-case\/","url_meta":{"origin":6629,"position":1},"title":"THE CASE","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"July 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Dank, dark spaces and untamed tropical nature encroach upon a remote Yunnanese inn, where the appearance of a mysterious, floating case signals the return of dormant, irrational desires for the mild-mannered protagonist He Dashang (Wu Gang). Review by Edwin Mak","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema releases"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema releases","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/cinema-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3991,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/01\/18\/carrie\/","url_meta":{"origin":6629,"position":2},"title":"Carrie","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"January 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"To tie in with our 'Daughters of Darkness' theme, we revisit Brian De Palma's 1976 supernatural horror classic. Comic Strip Review by Howard Hardiman","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Carrie Comic Strip Review Jan 14","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Carrie-Comic-Strip-Review-Jan-14-594x891.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Carrie-Comic-Strip-Review-Jan-14-594x891.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Carrie-Comic-Strip-Review-Jan-14-594x891.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3878,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2013\/12\/03\/supernatural\/","url_meta":{"origin":6629,"position":3},"title":"Supernatural","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"December 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Robert Muller\u2019s 1977 anthology TV series is an honest attempt to revel in the possibilities of the Gothic genre. Review by Mark Stafford","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Supernatural","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Supernatural-594x399.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Supernatural-594x399.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Supernatural-594x399.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6846,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2017\/06\/25\/the-entity\/","url_meta":{"origin":6629,"position":4},"title":"The Entity","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"June 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Sidney Furie\u2019s disturbing, ambiguous 80s poltergeist tale brings up difficult issues surrounding sexual assault. Review by Sarah Cronin","rel":"","context":"In "Home entertainment"","block_context":{"text":"Home entertainment","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/dvds-and-blu-rays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Entity","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-Entity-594x399.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-Entity-594x399.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-Entity-594x399.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2168,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2012\/01\/25\/the-curse\/","url_meta":{"origin":6629,"position":5},"title":"The Curse","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"January 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"K;;ji Shiraishi's The Curse (Noroi) is the conceptual descendant of the BBC's notorious 1992 Ghostwatch Halloween Special. Review by Jim Harper","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Noroi_Ritual1-594x311.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Noroi_Ritual1-594x311.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Noroi_Ritual1-594x311.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6629"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6821,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6629\/revisions\/6821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}