In Carlos Reygadas’s masterful film, light and sound make—and remake—the world. Bookended by extraordinary shots heralding a world of tumultuous existence, Silent Light tells a story of love, family and adultery in a Mennonite community in northern Mexico. Johan, a farmer who has seven kids with his wife, has fallen in love with another woman in the community. This relationship, more taboo here than in less pious arenas, impacts everyone involved in a profoundly felt way not often depicted in cinema. Rather than resorting to emotional histrionics, Silent Light is much more concerned with the essential truths of the circumstances facing these three adults and their loved ones. Using mostly untrained actors from the culture he is depicting and a mesmerizing technique showcasing the miracles of the natural world and its influence on sentient beings, the immensely talented Reygadas (Japon, Battle in Heaven) has made one of the finest films of the year. As Peter Bradshaw put it in the Guardian, “This is a deeply considered, formally accomplished, beautiful-looking and unexpectedly gripping film from a director making a giant leap into the first rank of world cinema.”

Written by Carlos Reygadas. Photographed by Alexis Zabe. With Cornelio Wall, Miriam Toews, Maria Pankratz. (142 min, in Plautdietsch with English subtitles, Palisades Pictures)