Title: New Order
Year: 2020
Director: Michel Franco
Country: Mexico
Language: Spanish
The 6th film I've seen digitally from Toronto International Film Festival, Michel Franco's New Order has been the only somewhat polarizing picture between my spouse and I, so far. They found it empty; a lot of flash & shock, but little substance. Whereas I disagreed with their view, but not dramatically. After seeing the heartwarming Summer of 85' and the deliberately paced Nomadland, it was nice (if that's an appropriate word to use) to see a picture so chaotic.
In Mexico city a wedding takes place among the wealthy, but stirring within the city is a military coupe that threatens everybody.
New Order feels like Haneke's Funny Games meets The Purge meets Killing Fields. It's shocking and disturbing; carnage lurks around every corner. It's a thriller about civil disobedience & the rage of the underclass that assaults our psyche with an unpredictable story that never lets up. Playing better as pure horror, rather than drama, this film is fairly unnerving even for those who like this kinda stuff.
Michel Franco has no problem graphically desplaying the worst of human violence which, admittedly, detracted from the pictures' main message. The mass murder and depravity, some of which I had to skip, that take centre stage in the second half of the film almost feel like a gorification of violence rather than a condemnation of it. New Order is sometimes too chaotic for its own good & could do with more exposition.
Though I ultimately did find some enjoyment within the frenzy, this will be my least favourite of TIFF 2020 because of its lack of humanity and compassion. Even the soldiers in Alfonso Cauron's Roma were more sympathetic than these faceless creatures.
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