Ahead of stopping by Lincoln Center’s Film Comment Selects, the first trailer has arrived for The Untamed, the latest film from Spanish auteur Amat Escalante. While it is in Spanish with no (English) subtitles, the trailer features arresting imagery and a raw, ominous tone as it follows a couple whose lives are shaken when they encounter a mysterious creature. The third feature from Escalante, the film looks to be a harsh exploration of family, horror, and sex.
We said in our review, “The Untamed does that very rare thing in cinema in that it blends mystery, horror and pseudo-reality with a kind of dark subconscious arousal. In this way it recalls the auteur directors previously mentioned here, but also the eerie ethereal science fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. All this might lead you to believe that The Untamed is built on homage, and yet it refuses to be anything but its own thing. You won’t find any chickens copulating in Blue Velvet, for example, or skinny women riding on dirt bikes for that matter. The ending comes out of nowhere and might leave viewers rattled, but there is something in that radical imagery, and the illicit taboo nature of the characters’ actions, that will linger with the viewer long after.”
See the trailer below, with a nod to CineMaldito.
Update: See a new version with English subtitles.
A social parable that focuses on Mexico, but also wishes to be universal. A more metaphysical film than Amat Escalante’s previous film Heli (2013, Best Director at Cannes). A story about falling in love and vanishing illusions in a highland city in Mexico. Veronica (Simone Bucio) goes down to find the point of impact of a meteorite that crashed and altered the configuration of the area. In the same way, she will change the lives of Angel (Jesùs Mesa) and Alejandra (Ruth Ramos), a young couple that puts its determination to the test as they try, with their two children, to overcome adversity.
The Untamed currently has no U.S. release date.