Set in Costa da Caparica, Portugal, amidst the 2008 economic crisis, “Vanda” – which screened at Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market – tells the true-to-life story of distressed hairdresser turned unlikely criminal Dulce Caroço.
Our titular character, played by Gabriella Barros[/link] (“Al Berto”), is introduced as she lies on the floor, vacant-faced, smoking a cigarette. Moments later, we see her doused in disguise, a blond wig and oversized sunglasses.
In this hour-long, crime-heist episodic, created by Patrícia Müller (“Madre Paula”) and directed by Simão Cayatte (“A Viagem”), Vanda goes from surviving to destitute in a matter of scenes. Her beauty salon seats sit largely empty. Her deadbeat husband is out of work and has used up all of her money, leaving bills unpaid and the bank breathing down her neck. Desperate to provide for her children, she resolves to turn their lives around by robbing a bank.
The EFM preview of this co-production between Legendary Television,...
Our titular character, played by Gabriella Barros[/link] (“Al Berto”), is introduced as she lies on the floor, vacant-faced, smoking a cigarette. Moments later, we see her doused in disguise, a blond wig and oversized sunglasses.
In this hour-long, crime-heist episodic, created by Patrícia Müller (“Madre Paula”) and directed by Simão Cayatte (“A Viagem”), Vanda goes from surviving to destitute in a matter of scenes. Her beauty salon seats sit largely empty. Her deadbeat husband is out of work and has used up all of her money, leaving bills unpaid and the bank breathing down her neck. Desperate to provide for her children, she resolves to turn their lives around by robbing a bank.
The EFM preview of this co-production between Legendary Television,...
- 2/16/2022
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
Ancient myths, religious otherworldliness, and culturally tailored re-imaginings of classic tropes or creatures populate the landscape of Latino horror. Although genre films have been present in Latin American cinema since the 1930s, over the last two decades — with the advent of digital filmmaking and increased government investment in the art form — they have exponentially flourished in the region.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Latinx audiences are known to be enthusiastic (and paying) fans of all things horror, even if Hollywood projects rarely include Latinos on screen. There are still few genre features by or about American Latinos out there, but up-and-coming storytellers are striving to change that. As streamers and studios vow to support emerging voices in entertainment, this is a space ripe for growth.
A thematically compelling quality in many of the most prominent Latino horror films is that genre often serves as a vehicle to create discourse around...
Meanwhile, in the United States, Latinx audiences are known to be enthusiastic (and paying) fans of all things horror, even if Hollywood projects rarely include Latinos on screen. There are still few genre features by or about American Latinos out there, but up-and-coming storytellers are striving to change that. As streamers and studios vow to support emerging voices in entertainment, this is a space ripe for growth.
A thematically compelling quality in many of the most prominent Latino horror films is that genre often serves as a vehicle to create discourse around...
- 10/24/2020
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Indiewire
São Paulo is transformed into a spooky fairytale landscape in this elegant, unsettling tale of a pregnant woman and her prospective employee
There’s an enjoyably inscrutable performance at the heart of this Brazilian fairytale for grownups. Clara (Isabél Zuaa), an unsmiling mystery women, arrives at the luxurious São Paulo apartment of pregnant Ana (Marjorie Estiano), to be interviewed for the position of nanny. But is that really the role on offer? And is Clara an entirely honest applicant?
The first third of this two-hour-plus film keeps us wondering. It’s clear that something is off between the women, but impossible to determine where the balance of power lies. Is this a Rosemary’s Baby-style horror about satanic foetus worship? A Parasite-like study of the subversive intimacy between domestic servant and employer? Or some unholy combination of the two? Then, with all the sprightly mischief of one of Ana’s country-music workout videos,...
There’s an enjoyably inscrutable performance at the heart of this Brazilian fairytale for grownups. Clara (Isabél Zuaa), an unsmiling mystery women, arrives at the luxurious São Paulo apartment of pregnant Ana (Marjorie Estiano), to be interviewed for the position of nanny. But is that really the role on offer? And is Clara an entirely honest applicant?
The first third of this two-hour-plus film keeps us wondering. It’s clear that something is off between the women, but impossible to determine where the balance of power lies. Is this a Rosemary’s Baby-style horror about satanic foetus worship? A Parasite-like study of the subversive intimacy between domestic servant and employer? Or some unholy combination of the two? Then, with all the sprightly mischief of one of Ana’s country-music workout videos,...
- 7/16/2020
- by Ellen E Jones
- The Guardian - Film News
Mubi's series New Brazilian Cinema is showing June - September, 2020.Above: LandlessAs I write about current Brazilian cinema, Brazilian Cinemateca, the preeminent institution for preservation of the country’s film history, is in danger of collapsing. Its employees haven’t been paid for months and the reels in its archives aren’t properly protected. The country's film industry launches strikes and petitions against the government’s plan to close the organization, which would damn the cultural heritage it shelters. How to consider the urgency of contemporary Brazilian film in this dire context? Perhaps by framing it as narratives of crises and resilience. No image inscribes itself as well into this allegory as one at the end of Landless, a documentary by Camila Freitas that premiered at Berlinale: Gusts of relentless wind punish arid earth, covering a settlement of scattered humble tents in a vicious swirl of red dust. This...
- 7/6/2020
- MUBI
"Genre defying and genuinely unexpected." Distrib Films Us has debuted another new trailer for the highly underrated Brazilian horror film Good Manners, or originally As Boas Maneiras in Portuguese. I've been talking up this film ever since the London Film Festival last year. The first Us trailer is not very good, but this is a much better trailer that finally gets into it more. Good Manners reinvents the werewolf genre in a completely eye-opening, breathtaking way. The story is about a lonely nurse hired by a wealthy, mysterious woman named Ana to be the the nanny for her unborn child. But she soon realizes things are a bit strange when she discovers Ana sleepwalks at night. Isabél Zuaa stars in this, with Marjorie Estiano, Miguel Lobo, Cida Moreira, Andréa Marquee, and Felipe Kenji. I flipped for it last year and haven't stopped thinking about it - read my review. Hopefully...
- 7/16/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
"He's a strong boy, Ana." Distrib Films Us has released an official trailer for an underrated Brazilian horror film titled Good Manners, or originally As Boas Maneiras in Portuguese. The is one of the most original, clever, craziest genre films I have ever seen, I'm still blown away thinking about it. Good Manners reinvents the werewolf genre in a completely eye-opening, breathtaking way. The story is about a lonely nurse hired by a wealthy, mysterious woman named Ana to be the the nanny for her unborn child. But she soon realizes things are a bit strange when she discovers Ana sleepwalks at night looking for prey. Isabél Zuaa stars, with a cast including Marjorie Estiano, Miguel Lobo, Cida Moreira, Andréa Marquee, and Felipe Kenji. I saw this film at a festival last year, and flipped for it. I wrote in my review: "It will make you freak out and laugh...
- 6/25/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Contrasts abound in Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra’s terrifyingly captivating Good Manners, a horror-meets-children’s-movie that uses all the tropes at its disposal to conjure up a piercing discussion of class, race, and desire in present-day Brazil. Six years after their collaborative debut, Hard Labor (2011), the writer-directors return to the theme of social divisions, this time to tackle it through the unconventional lens of werewolf mythology in a fantasy-fueled melodrama that should inject a much-needed revitalizing serum into a stagnating genre.
An unemployed professional caretaker from one of São Paulo’s poorer suburbs, dark-skinned Clara (a remarkable Isabél Zuaa) lands a gig as a live-in nanny at a fancy high-rise apartment. Her employer, pregnant Ana (Marjorie Estiano), is an entitled, white 29-year-old from a rich plantation family: shunned from her relatives after she refused to abort, she now awaits the due date indulging in compulsive shopping and steak eating.
An unemployed professional caretaker from one of São Paulo’s poorer suburbs, dark-skinned Clara (a remarkable Isabél Zuaa) lands a gig as a live-in nanny at a fancy high-rise apartment. Her employer, pregnant Ana (Marjorie Estiano), is an entitled, white 29-year-old from a rich plantation family: shunned from her relatives after she refused to abort, she now awaits the due date indulging in compulsive shopping and steak eating.
- 4/10/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
This year, Fantastic Fest turned 13, a number that felt apt if you’ve been following the news. Most conversations started like this:
“How are you?”
“How are you?”
Exhale. Hug. Repeat.
Eventually, people got around to talking about the films. Even those were emotional.
Tortured Souls
In past years, bringing context into the Alamo Drafthouse theater meant deciding not to chomp chips and queso during a hushed thriller. This time, audiences welled up watching Carla Guigino confront a lifetime of abuse as the emotionally and physically handcuffed wife in Stephen King’s “Gerald’s Game,” a Lifetime movie-looking low budget adaptation whose blockbuster impact at the Fest might not translate to people at home when it premieres on Netflix. (Guigino, however, is terrific in a dual-of-sorts role as the manacled victim and her empowered subconscious.)
Read More:Fantastic Fest Under Fire: Why America’s Preeminent Genre Festival Needs Its Fans...
“How are you?”
“How are you?”
Exhale. Hug. Repeat.
Eventually, people got around to talking about the films. Even those were emotional.
Tortured Souls
In past years, bringing context into the Alamo Drafthouse theater meant deciding not to chomp chips and queso during a hushed thriller. This time, audiences welled up watching Carla Guigino confront a lifetime of abuse as the emotionally and physically handcuffed wife in Stephen King’s “Gerald’s Game,” a Lifetime movie-looking low budget adaptation whose blockbuster impact at the Fest might not translate to people at home when it premieres on Netflix. (Guigino, however, is terrific in a dual-of-sorts role as the manacled victim and her empowered subconscious.)
Read More:Fantastic Fest Under Fire: Why America’s Preeminent Genre Festival Needs Its Fans...
- 9/29/2017
- by Amy Nicholson
- Indiewire
There is the family you are born into, and the family you make; lovers who stay with you a long time, and ones whose time with you is brief, but make a lasting impact. What then is the nature of love and devotion? Can we love both the person and the monster inside? In Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra's latest feature film Good Manners, a magic-realist fairy tale, love and devotion, class division, and the monster inside us all are deftly explored. Clara (Isabél Zuaa) is a lonely nurse still grieving over the , living in poor conditions, who takes a job as a nanny and housekeeper to the equally lonely Ana (Marjorie Estiano), a wealthy white woman soon expecting her first child. Clara moves...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 9/24/2017
- Screen Anarchy
The following essay was produced as part of the 2017 Locarno Critics Academy, a workshop for aspiring film critics that took place during the 70th edition of the Locarno Film Festival.
Locarno isn’t just home to a major European film festival. It’s also an ideal place for many Swiss and foreign families to travel in summer and enjoy its hot weather, pleasant cuisine, and serene lake. This makes it a terrific place for contemplating new movies.
Ironically, during the 70th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, many of the films outwardly questioned the value of traditional family life. Many viewers encountered the puzzling contrast of watching subversive movies, leaving the screening rooms, and watching very conventional heterosexual families enjoying their vacations. But this only made the power of these movies stand out.
“C’est moi” says Fanny Ardant, a transgender women, in “Lola Pater,” the film by the Franco-Algerian director Nadir Mokneche,...
Locarno isn’t just home to a major European film festival. It’s also an ideal place for many Swiss and foreign families to travel in summer and enjoy its hot weather, pleasant cuisine, and serene lake. This makes it a terrific place for contemplating new movies.
Ironically, during the 70th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, many of the films outwardly questioned the value of traditional family life. Many viewers encountered the puzzling contrast of watching subversive movies, leaving the screening rooms, and watching very conventional heterosexual families enjoying their vacations. But this only made the power of these movies stand out.
“C’est moi” says Fanny Ardant, a transgender women, in “Lola Pater,” the film by the Franco-Algerian director Nadir Mokneche,...
- 9/14/2017
- by Francisco Noronha
- Indiewire
"Is he normal?" A trailer has arrived online for a Brazilian fantasy horror film titled Good Manners, which just premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland and is also playing at the Sitges Film Festival coming up. The story is about a lonely nurse hired by a wealthy, mysterious woman named Ana to be the the nanny for her unborn child. But she soon realizes things are a bit strange when she discovers Ana sleepwalks around the house at night looking for prey. Isabél Zuaa stars, with a cast including Marjorie Estiano, Miguel Lobo, Cida Moreira, Andréa Marquee, and Felipe Kenji. This looks very peculiar and eerie, but it's that final shot with the freaky dog (boy?) that really sells this. I dig the hand drawn poster art, too. Here's the first trailer (+ poster) for Marco Dutra & Juliana Rojas' Good Manners, direct from YouTube: Clara (Isabél Zuaa), a...
- 8/10/2017
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Early August is usually a transitional moment, when the summer movie season winds down to set the stage for the fall, and most moviegoers are catching up on highlights from the last few weeks. But for a few thousand people attending the Locarno Film Festival, a whole new set of discoveries await.
The Swiss festival is one of the major European film events of the summer, offering a range of new titles that encompass multiple genres and national cinemas, many of which will go on to play at other big festivals later this year. Here’s a look at some of the most promising films in this year’s lineup; expect to hear more about them in the near future. (Stay tuned for more essays on this year’s lineup from participants in the 2017 Locarno Critics Academy.)
Read MoreLocarno Film Festival 2017: Enter to Win Free Online Festival Pass to...
The Swiss festival is one of the major European film events of the summer, offering a range of new titles that encompass multiple genres and national cinemas, many of which will go on to play at other big festivals later this year. Here’s a look at some of the most promising films in this year’s lineup; expect to hear more about them in the near future. (Stay tuned for more essays on this year’s lineup from participants in the 2017 Locarno Critics Academy.)
Read MoreLocarno Film Festival 2017: Enter to Win Free Online Festival Pass to...
- 8/2/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
You’d be forgiven for buying into the genial peace the pervades the first half of this exclusive trailer for “Hard Labor” filmmakers Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra’s latest feature. After all, the opening minute or so of this first look at their “Good Manners” plays up the bond between Clara (Isabél Zuaa), a lonely nurse from the outskirts of São Paulo, who is hired by the mysterious and wealthy Ana (Marjorie Estiano) as the nanny of her unborn child.
And then things change. In a very, very big way. The film follows the pair as they prepare for the imminent birth of Ana’s child, a terrifying enough period made all the worse by the sense that not all is right with the baby, or with Ana.
Read MoreLocarno Film Festival 2017: Enter to Win Free Online Festival Pass to Stream Movies
In an official statement, Rojas and...
And then things change. In a very, very big way. The film follows the pair as they prepare for the imminent birth of Ana’s child, a terrifying enough period made all the worse by the sense that not all is right with the baby, or with Ana.
Read MoreLocarno Film Festival 2017: Enter to Win Free Online Festival Pass to Stream Movies
In an official statement, Rojas and...
- 7/31/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
“Gold ruins everything. First the land, then the man.” That’s the gist of Marcelo Gomes’ ambitious historical epic, set in 18th-century Brazil when the South American colony’s people and resources were being exploited under Portuguese oppression. A fictional tale partly based on the life of leading Brazilian separatist Tiradentes (real name Joaquim José da Silva Xavier), Gomes’ film aims to keep the spirit rather than adhere to true events of his nascent independence movement. It’s more a reflection on how inequality and oppression so endemic in colonial times continue into today’s Brazil.
Joaquim (Julio Machado, a rugged Hugh Jackman look-a-like) is a soldier serving the Portuguese crown, catching smugglers in a part of Brazil whose formerly rich supply of gold is running dry. His poor upbringing is still better than the slaves and “indians” who work under him, with whom he gets on better than many of his Portuguese peers.
Joaquim (Julio Machado, a rugged Hugh Jackman look-a-like) is a soldier serving the Portuguese crown, catching smugglers in a part of Brazil whose formerly rich supply of gold is running dry. His poor upbringing is still better than the slaves and “indians” who work under him, with whom he gets on better than many of his Portuguese peers.
- 2/17/2017
- by Ed Frankl
- The Film Stage
The Berlin International Film Festival announced 13 additions to its 2017 line-up, including the international premiere of Danny Boyle’s hotly anticipated “Trainspotting” follow-up, “Trainspotting: T2,” and the world premiere of James Mangold’s “Logan,” the third in the growing “Wolverine” franchise, starring Hugh Jackman. Both films will play out of competition.
Read More: ‘Logan’ Trailer: Hugh Jackman’s Final Wolverine Movie Mixes The Superhero Genre With The Western
Hong Sangsoo’s “On the Beach Alone at Night” will make its world premiere at the festival, the latest from the idiosyncratic Korean director whose last film, “Right Now, Wrong Then,” garnered attention at festivals in 2016.
Other promising titles include the world premiere of “The Tin Drum” director Volker Schlöndorff’s “Return To Montauk,” starring Stellan Skarsgård, and “Viceroy’s House,” a period drama from the woman behind “Bend it Like Beckham,” Gurinder Chadha. The Austrian actor Josef Hader also will make...
Read More: ‘Logan’ Trailer: Hugh Jackman’s Final Wolverine Movie Mixes The Superhero Genre With The Western
Hong Sangsoo’s “On the Beach Alone at Night” will make its world premiere at the festival, the latest from the idiosyncratic Korean director whose last film, “Right Now, Wrong Then,” garnered attention at festivals in 2016.
Other promising titles include the world premiere of “The Tin Drum” director Volker Schlöndorff’s “Return To Montauk,” starring Stellan Skarsgård, and “Viceroy’s House,” a period drama from the woman behind “Bend it Like Beckham,” Gurinder Chadha. The Austrian actor Josef Hader also will make...
- 1/10/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
X-Men spinoff and Trainspotting sequel to play Out of Competition.
A further 13 films have been invited to screen in the Competition and Berlinale Special section at the 67th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival.
The festival has added commercial clout to its Out Of Competition lineup in the shape of Danny Boyle’s T2 Trainspotting and X-Men spinoff Logan.
There are also competition berths for new films by Hong Sangsoo, Thomas Arslan, Volker Schlöndorff, Sabu, Álex de la Iglesia and Josef Hader.
Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha’s latest, Viceroy’s House, will have its world premiere out of competition at the festival. Starring Hugh Bonneville alongside Gillian Anderson, the period drama set in 1947 India depicts Lord Mountbatten, the man charged with handing India back to its people.
Also having its world premiered out of competition will be Álex de la Iglesia’s The Bar, a comedy-thriller about a group of strangers who get...
A further 13 films have been invited to screen in the Competition and Berlinale Special section at the 67th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival.
The festival has added commercial clout to its Out Of Competition lineup in the shape of Danny Boyle’s T2 Trainspotting and X-Men spinoff Logan.
There are also competition berths for new films by Hong Sangsoo, Thomas Arslan, Volker Schlöndorff, Sabu, Álex de la Iglesia and Josef Hader.
Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha’s latest, Viceroy’s House, will have its world premiere out of competition at the festival. Starring Hugh Bonneville alongside Gillian Anderson, the period drama set in 1947 India depicts Lord Mountbatten, the man charged with handing India back to its people.
Also having its world premiered out of competition will be Álex de la Iglesia’s The Bar, a comedy-thriller about a group of strangers who get...
- 1/10/2017
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman) tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
- ScreenDaily
After an initial line-up that included Aki Kaurismäki‘s The Other Side of Hope, Oren Moverman‘s Richard Gere-led The Dinner, Sally Potter‘s The Party, and Agnieszka Holland‘s Spoor, the Berlin International Film Festival have added more anticipated premieres. Highlights include one of two (maybe three) new Hong Sang-soo films this year, On the Beach at Night Alone, along with Volker Schlöndorff‘s Return to Montauk with Stellan Skarsgård and Nina Hoss, as well as the high-profile world premiere of James Mangold‘s Logan and the international premiere of Danny Boyle‘s T2: Trainspotting.
With Paul Verhoeven serving as jury president for the 67th edition of the festival, check out the new additions below.
Competition
Bamui haebyun-eoseo honja (On the Beach at Night Alone)
South Korea
By Hong Sangsoo (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, Right Now, Wrong Then)
With Kim Minhee, Seo Younghwa, Jung Jaeyoung, Moon Sungkeun,...
With Paul Verhoeven serving as jury president for the 67th edition of the festival, check out the new additions below.
Competition
Bamui haebyun-eoseo honja (On the Beach at Night Alone)
South Korea
By Hong Sangsoo (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, Right Now, Wrong Then)
With Kim Minhee, Seo Younghwa, Jung Jaeyoung, Moon Sungkeun,...
- 1/10/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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