a review of 哭泣的女人

HOOPTOBER NINE! NIGHT THIRTY! + 2022 Criterion Challenge Week 43/Category 11: The 2010s I really dug how Bustamante really gives us the slow-burn on the horror/supernatural elements, giving us just enough to suggest them without making it too facile. Even going in not knowing very much about the Llorona mythology, the movie sets everything up in a way that explains everything we need to know in audiovisual terms without direct dialogue or exposition about it. From the moment Maria Mercedes Coroy appears in frame, we know that there is something different about her from all the other characters, and Bustamante lets her just radiate that otherworldliness in the subtlest of ways. I'd love to see a breakdown of his approach in shooting Coroy, because I couldn't tell what he was doing or how he was directing her, but he captured something about her onscreen that was extraordinary.