The Untamed Review
Review of The Untamed by Mexican dir. Amat Escalante. An amazing follow up to his Cannes winner Heli, THE UNTAMED (LA REGIÓN SALVAJE) is a social drama mixed with sci-fi that makes it hard to define according to genre. The great cast consists of Ruth Ramos (Alejandra) Simone Bucio Angel (Veronica) Jesús Meza (Angel) and Eden Villavicencio (Fabian).
The Untamed is the first ever Mexican Danish co production. Cinematographer Manuel Alberto Claro is a Chilean-Danish cinematographer and Peter Hjorth was the VFX supervisor he has previously worked on MELANCHOLIA, NYMPHOMANIAC VOL. I & II. The films cinematography certainly has something new about it, it’s slick like a Danish noir but has its heart in a much darker and more complicated place than the happiest country in the world.
The Director Amat Escalante shot this film in his native city Guanajuato in Mexico and its nearby countryside, Amat says he found inspiration in his country’s treatment of women and the still very conservative view of homosexually, he found a way of manifesting the horrific things that take place in a something that is very out of this world.
Drm.am view: The Untamed is a shocking and disturbing piece of cinema, with some first class acting , that gives the viewer an insight into macho Mexican culture, but Amat Escalante is not a Mexican Ken Loach he adds a surreal component which is superberbly accomplished.
SYNOPSIS Young mother Alejandra is a working housewife, raising two boys with husband Angel in a small city. Her brother Fabian works as a nurse in a local hospital. Their provincial lives are upset with the arrival of mysterious Veronica. Sex and love can be fragile in certain regions where strong family values, hypocrisy, homophobia, and male chauvinism exist. Veronica convinces them that in the nearby woods, inside an isolated cabin, dwells something not of this world that could be the answer to all of their problems. Something whose force they cannot resist and with whom they must make peace or suffer its wrath.
You can watch The untamed during the London Film festival find out about ticket availability HERE.
