This feels like a culmination of sorts for Serra. It is predicted in two of his favorite moves, the tension between character and environment and the promise of a death ceremonial, but Magimel colonial bureaucrat comes off much closer to him and less a symbol as in most of his movies. So, the whole movie plays as much more immediate than usual which I assume is why this has been far more popular than usual. It is still a conceptual provocation, that’s what he does, but the emotional response seems stronger. It looks great and like most Serra work it goes much easier when one accepts Serra’s is funny and not ponderous as he might try to look. I don’t know if it has much to say about colonialism, but it does seem to want to say a lot about artistic self-annihilation.