La ciénaga

Often compared to films by David Lynch, Jane Campion, and Michelangelo Antonioni, Martel’s debut La ciénaga (Spanish for swamp) paints a humid portrait of a middle-class family’s booze-dulled decline. Even in her first feature Martel’s talents for compressed narrative, beautiful cinematography, and unusually sophisticated uses of on- and offscreen sound are fully evident. (103 mins., DCP) A selection of Martel’s rarely screened short films follows the feature: Pescados (2010, 4:30 mins.), featuring music by past Wex guest Juana Molina; Nueva Argirópolis (2010, 8 mins.); Leguas (2015, 11:45 mins.); and the surreal Muta, commissioned by fashion label Miu Miu (2011, 6:27 mins.).