After penning several episodes of the Netflix series “Narcos: Mexico”, Mexican filmmaker Amat Escalante returns to the cinema of his choice with the beautiful “Lost in the Night”: a visually rich genre and auteur film about contemporary Mexico.
The fifth film by Mexican director Amat Escalante (Heli, La Région Sauvage), “Lost in the Night” takes us to a small town in a region of Mexico where life is punctuated by the explosions of a distant mine. Emiliano (played by the brilliant Juan Daniel García Treviño), a mute young man, leads the investigation to find those responsible for the mysterious disappearance of his mother, an environmental activist opposed to mining activity in the region. His search leads him to a modernist lakeside house where Rigoberto Duplas, a contemporary artist with extreme installations, lives. But he also meets his wife, a famous actress, and her daughter, an Instagram influencer fascinated by death. Not far away, a Christian sect has set up shop and considers Duplas to be the devil.
What do they all have to hide? In a world where corruption reigns, Amat Escalante offers us a political film, sometimes philosophical, but above all a thriller with an implacable scenario. The film’s sublime direction is reflected in the opening sequence, which concludes with a brutal arrest on a country road at night, lit only by car headlights and the blinding flashing lights of the police. It’s just as tragically beautiful as the film’s title.
“Lost in the Night”, in cinemas from October 4.