El Mar La Mar (translated to The Sea The Sea) is a 2017 arthouse documentary set in the Sonoran Desert, which is located on the US-Mexican border. The film blends disorienting at times unnerving & haunting footage of the desert,  with voiced-over personal accounts of border crossing & unsettling encounters, day-to-night landscape shots, staking through the desert shooting, and more troubling to cryptic snapshots/ imagery- all set in a polyphonic soundtrack, which utilizes field records, landscape sounds, and subtle formal music use. Here from  Second Run- the celebrated arthouse/ world film label is a most welcome region free Blu ray release, of this rather captivating & engaging doc, which is both equally hauntingly & subtly unsettling.

El Mar La Mar is an American-made documentary. It was jointly directed by Joshua Bonnetta and J.P. Sniadecki. Bonnetta has five credits to his name- these take in three early 2010 shorts-American Colour, Strange Lines And Distance, and Remanence I-(Lost, Lost, Lost). And two feature lengths- El Mar La Mar, and The Two Slights (2020) which is based on footage filmed on various Outer Hebrides islands over a two-year period. Sniadecki has eight credits to his name- these take in one short Songhau (2008), three co-director films Foreign Parts (2012), El Mar La Mar, and A Shape of Things To Come(2020). As well as three solo-directed films- Chaiqian(2010) a portrait of urban space, migrant labour, and ephemeral relationships in Chengdu- which is the capital of Sichuan province in western China. People's Park (2012) a single-shot documentary journey through the famous urban park in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. And The Iron Ministry (2014) a documentary filmed over three years-set on and around China’s largest rail network.

El Mar La Mar has a runtime of one hour and thirty-four minutes. And throughout it manages to be both intriguing and engaging- which is impressive for a non-narrative-based documentary, which is largely based around footage of desert, and fleeting glances of mankind.   The film opens with basic monochrome credits- which are alive with visual & audio pops, glitches, and grain.  And as we get into the film we’re dropped straight into the disorienting- as we get footage of rapidly rushing by footage- at points, it seems to be unobscured daytime footage of trees and greener whizzing, which is then seen through some sort of fencing & or bars- it does set you down in a head-spinning/ unsure what-you- are-seeing place. As we move on the disorientation continues- as we get torch-led footage of the night-time desert, with a man recounting his encounter with some strange one arm longer than another creature. We get darting/ overlaid footage of daytime grasslands, before we’re back into the dark with flashing footage of someone pulling apart what looks like some form of meat.

As we progress, we have drifting footage of flaming foliage & trees in the pitch black night, set shots of day shifting into night landscapes, and footage of discarded cloths & personal items in the baking heat overlaid with dialogue details both the work of rangers & those trying to make it across the border- which is both in English and subtitled Spanish. For large parts of the film we are just left with the sound of the desert itself,  slow crunching footsteps,  or weather sounds- and the ways these elements are captured/ presented, remain just as engaging as the dialogue-lined moments.

Moving on to this region free Blu-Ray presentation of the film. The disc features a new HD transfer of the doc approved by the two directors- and this is wonderful visually and sonically realized, pulling you deeper into the desert. This is most certainly a film to watch in a dark room, with a great audio set-up, to fully submerge yourself in the doc. On the extra side, we get a film appreciation of the film from writer, curator, and producer Gareth Evans(24.39).  He begins by discussing how he curated a showing of the film in the Jordanian deserts, and what its impact was in this setting. He talks about the way El Mar La Mar approaches its subject, and its use of sound. He chats about two books released around the time of the film, which were set in/ around the Sonoran Desert. He discusses the film's themes in general, and more- a most interesting & thoughtful look at El Mar La Mar.  As with all of Second Run releases, we also get a glossy inlay booklet- this runs sixteen pages, and features a new eight-page essay about the film by Patrick Gamble- as well as stills from the film, and full credits.

El Mar La Mar is a decidedly spellbinding example of the documentary form- which drops one down into the Sonoran Desert for a fully submersible experience- shifting from disorientation, the haunting & tragic, to the barren and weather, and moodily awe-inspiring. I’ll most certainly be seeking out more of both of the two directors' work- as really they do have a very distinctive  & compelling take on the documentary form