I saw A PLACE WITHOUT LIMITS (1978, Arturo Ripstein, A+) in late August. I like it very much. One of the things I like about it is the characters. All characters here are complex and seem to be in gray shade—no black and white characters. Many characters have both good and bad sides in them. A corrupt politician might be evil in a way, but he is still more tolerant towards homosexuality than some moral characters in this film.

A PLACE WITHOUT LIMITS might be called a feel-bad movie, but its feel-bad power is not as strong as HEREMIAS (2006, Lav Diaz, A++++++), which I just saw last night. HEREMIAS might be one of the films which make me feel the worst after seeing it. It seems to suck the power of life out of me. Somehow this film makes me feel as if the world is pure hell. I…