Users: 124
“Entre Muros” brings together three Portuguese shorts in the same program, all works that were successful on the festival circuit abroad. They are “2720” by Basil da Cunha, the “Corpos Cintilantes” by Inês Teixeira, and “Natureza Humana” signed by Mónica Lima.
2720Basil da Cunha
Somewhere in Cova da Moura, two figures roam the streets on different missions. Camila is a seven-year-old girl looking for her brother, having found out about a police raid when she was going to get ice cream. Maybe she wants to warn him, maybe she wants to save him. On the other hand, we have the journey of Jysone, who has just been released from prison after several years behind bars. With only five weeks of freedom, he managed to find a job, this being his first day on the job. Unfortunately, he fell asleep, he’s already late and hasn’t even managed to confirm a ride yet. The lunch he brings in a Tupperware is almost comical in the current situation.
Along the way, the two figures meet and miss each other, passing through a plurality of spaces between revelry and domesticity. They also come across acquaintances, tracing a human tapestry that makes the entire neighborhood feel alive, almost like a collective character bursting with idiosyncrasies, mysteries and color. The text work – derived from an exercise close to documentary – creates a community portrait while at the same time drawing on the tension inherent in the two stories. Will Camila find her brother? Will Jysone arrive on time? And above all this, will the police presence be peaceful or will there be blood in the streets?
If Camila represents the soul of the neorealist narrative, Jysone is the one who gives the thing the most energy, driving an anxiety that suffocates us from the first minute. But “2720” is not just about social realism in text and performance. Its most impressive element is the mobility of the camera, always moving around the Reboleira neighborhood, capturing Lisbon’s geography with appreciation and curiosity. With few cuts interrupting its flow, the tape dazzles and consumes, an immersive experience punctuated by a final shock capable of breaking our hearts. Basil da Cunha confirms his talent as director, while cinematographer Vasco Viana shows how he is one of the great artists working in Portuguese cinema.
“2720” had its world premiere at Festival Visions du Réel last year. Later, he passed the Oberhausen Festival where he won the Prize FIPRESCI within the International Competition. There was a similar fate when he passed through Short Films Vila do Conde, where he won the Audience Award and the award for Best Director. Currently, the tape is nominated for the Sophia Prize for Best Fiction Short Film. On May 26th, it will be known whether Basil da Cunha also wins this trophy or whether another “Entre Muros” film defeats him.
SPARKLING BODIESInês Teixeira
In her first work after studying, Inês Teixeira reveals a good eye for crystallizing the particularities of the adolescent psyche. Her debut is with “Corpos Cintilantes,” the chronicle of a weekend in the life of Mariana, a young girl at Secondary School who we met in a school setting. In film recording and with intimate camera work, the viewer immediately feels a game of subjectivities. We both observe Mariana and experience the world through her sensitivity, a gaze that focuses on sculpted bodies that she perhaps covets and on a smiling boy in the same class.
He is Jorge and, after classes are over, the conversation blossoms between the two. Invitations are made to spend the next few days in Leiria and Mariana goes to her friend’s house. The rest of the film maintains the same intimate lines, with little dialogue and a lot of expressiveness, of faces and bodies, sneaky glimpses and nascent desires. As the weekend unfolds, issues of self-love become more pronounced, with consideration of the reflection in the mirror and the discomfort of a bikini that reveals more than Mariana wants to show. The smoke from a joint shared in a neighboring garden clears tongues, but it is always difficult to be sincere in these difficult times.
As in “2720,” there is a delicate dramaturgy at the base of the tape, without, however, its greatest qualities being manifested in the text. Above all, “Corpos Cintilantes” is a showcase for Inês Teixeira’s skills as a storyteller through audiovisual media, a talent for forming characterizations through empty spaces, silences and pauses in conversation. We must praise the work of Maria Abreu and Gaspar Menezes in the main roles, but the biggest star is, once again, Vasco Viana as director of photography. Joana Góis’ production is still applauded, capable of giving musicality to the reticent interactions of these young people in the process of self-discovery and first loves.
“Corpos Cintilantes” had its premiere at Cannes Festival 2023, where he was part of the competition for the Leitz Cine Discovery Award. It was still Vila do Conde and the Coimbra, where it won the honor for Best Short Film. He is currently nominated for the Sophia Prize Portuguese Cinema Academy.
HUMAN NATUREMonica Lima
In times of pandemic, a couple – Xavier (João Vicente) and Alba (Crest Tailor) – is confined to his apartment, spending the summer in a state similar to stagnation. Or maybe it’s not just the hottest season. Despite considering one day in the lives of its characters, “Human Nature” extends through the cycle of nature and the seasons. A city garden where Xavier spends his hours cultivating seems to grow throughout the tape, a botanical miracle that suggests a story beyond the confines of time. There is an impressionistic touch to all this, the notion that we feel the effects of a chronology dictated by human experience and not so much by the calendar.
The garden is a marker of time and is a symbol of contrasting fecundity. In the same gesture in which flowers and vegetables grow, filled with vitality, the couple confronts the failures of their natal effort. No matter how hard they try, they can’t have children. On top of that, a bitter idea and cruel uncertainty persists: this world is in decline and perhaps it is not right to generate new life if its fate will be to suffer. Between COVID-19 and climate change, a peacock loose in the streets and so much more, the apocalypse is on the horizon. But the wishes of fatherhood are not, therefore, invalid. In fact, “Human Nature” reveals the pain, love, and even hope in the souls of its cast.
Amid the Eden they built in the urban jungle, Xavier and Alba interact with children, either a neighbor girl or the son of another couple they are friends with. In these youthful faces, the sunniest ideas of “Human Nature” take shape and an antidote to despair fills the film with amazement. Despite isolating themselves in their individual grief, Xavier and Alba end up finding themselves in the middle, united in this confinement and willing to face the future together. If nihilism is expressed in notions of “no future,” then Mónica Lima’s work is a guarantee that tomorrow is worth living for. And what a beautiful dream it gives us, so well suggested by Faraz Fesharaki’s camera that we can almost smell the fertile earth and fresh flowers, the sun’s rays on our face and a summer breeze on our skin.
“Human Nature” was premiered at Rotterdam Film Festival, where he won the Tigre Ammodo Short Film Competition. In Vila do Conde, she won the National Competition, both by jury and audience votes. In addition to these two stints on the festival circuit, she also visited Coimbra, Achtung, Ghent, Montpellier, Saguenay, El Gouna and Cinema Ecowhere environmentalist cinema is celebrated.
“Entre Muros: Três Curtas Portuguesas” shows us the best of our national cinema, proving the quality of the sector and the wonder of the seventh art made in Portugal. Do not lose!
Between Walls, Criticism
Date published: May 10, 2024
Duration: 75 min.
Director(s): Basil da Cunha, Inês Teixeira, Mónica Lima
Actor(s): Camila Moniz, Jason Varela, Maria Abreu, Gaspar Menezes, João Vicente, Crista Alfaiate
Genre: Short Film, Drama, 2023
CONCLUSION:
“Entre Muros” provides a sample of the great cinema being made in Portugal. The three short films form a collection between realism and impressionism, between social portraits and glimpses into the anguished soul. Despite the drama, an idea of hope persists, whether it be in little Camila from “2720,” the teenage flirtations in “Corpos Cintilantes,” or the couple in confinement in “Natureza Humana.” Basil da Cunha, Inês Teixeira and Mónica Lima are names that any fan of Portuguese cinema should know and appreciate. The future is in their hands.
THE BEST: The photographic splendor of the three short films, all of them shot on film. In terms of national cinemas, Portugal has some of the most beautiful in the world.
WORSE: As with any collection of short films, the combination of works forces comparison. “Human Nature” is the highlight of the trio, but they all deserve applause and to be considered as individual triumphs.
HERE
