Lav Diaz has built a name directing artistic opuses that run much much longer than usual feature films, usually more than five hours. His longest was “Evolution of a Filipino Family” in 2004, which clocked at a whopping 11 and a half hours! Running for about 4 hours, “Norte” is fondly referred to as Mr. Diaz’s “short” film, and therefore the most accessible of all his films.
A disillusioned intellectual commits a murder that’s wrongfully blamed on a desperate family man, leading them both down unexpected paths as the innocent convict’s wife struggles to provide for their two young children in this literate drama inspired by Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.