Temporada is nothing less than a beautiful work of art. I can see some resonations with O Céu de Suely, but this is it's own story. With it's own merits. This mild budget drama is so full of heart and thoughtfulness it makes me want to be a filmmaker too, and it throws me back to the days of my own past, as I used to live in a similar low-middle class suburban like the one this movie takes place. But it's deeply brazilian by it's essence more than it's setting, and this makes me so happy. The camera work, the lighting and such other technical aspects hides (or explicitly defines) this movie's reach. Compensating in long pauses, slow pace, clever shots, dragged out takes with a full-on conversation soaked in authentic script and dialogue. All of it just works and I was imerse in it all the way in. I think, in the middle, the story just takes a dive that took me right out of it and made me think if said part was even, let's say, necessary. Good writing, good cinematography and acting, perfect soundtrack... I don't know what else to say about it other than I really, really liked it.
This can only be described as a beautiful and brilliant portrayal of a woman struggling with life and everything that revolves around being a single mother aswell as suffering from changes and losses and, despite all of that, emerging victorious. It's the unfortunate story of thousands upon thousands of young women in this country, told from the eyes of a strong and natural dreamer overcoming the roughness. I simply adore it.
I've been thinking a lot about what I want to write for this. For being a production collaborated between two countries (Germany and Brazil) the plot is essencially quite simple, but this doesn't get in the way of achieving a touching and all around accurate study of life and livelihood in this country. Relying in certain subtlety - going from plot to acting, to cinematography and to the soundtrack -, I don't have enough words to describe how unique this is. I can't help but think this powerful depiction is nothing less than a documented reality, because it feels and it looks so goddamn real. I interpret this being shown by the fact that our four main characters are named like their actors and actresses.
Dialogue, acting, scenery... filled with sensitivity, at the end everything works and lays out a topography so true and spontaneous to our reality, to the brazillian world of prostituition and family and difficulties and the dream of succeeding, I- I just dont want to bother dwelling on certain mistakes and/or poor executions troughout the movie - like the plethora of amateurs actors, for example -, even though it's not a perfect film, picking it apart and critizing everything isn't worth the trouble.
And, seriously, what can I say about Hermila Guedes? This woman is so captivating, so charismatic and so like a cousin that I have, it's just hypnotizing! How we don't see more of her in this industry is a crime.
All around graceful, emotionally impactful and honest to everything it represents, this movie is an inspiring and wonderful piece of art. Honestly, it's a shame it seems not that many people have seen it.
Beautiful, touching and mere seconds away from being something truly remarkable. This movie perfectly tackles a theme that's very dear to my heart: mental health. It's cruel, and endearing, and heartful and raw.
Even though it's mostly well acted, this movie's script isn't quite structured in tangible sectors. You see, the stakes are barely visible at the same time the story has struggles to progress through conflict. We have glimpses of antagonization throughout the film, ultimately culminating in a harrowing sequence that could've been better organized. Is it clear what Nise wants? How she wants it? Who's with her? Who is stopping her, however their way, and why he's doing that? What happens if she doesn't succeed? Nevertheless, if the movie didn't want to hand these ideas out, did it clearly stated it was half-abstracted and stablished liberty for interpretation, for example? I can't say I've finished the film knowing the exact answer to these and other questions... Her connection to Carl Jung, the nurse's change of heart, the hospital's administration and other subplots come out a tiny bit underdeveloped. Neither bland, or shallow... just lackluster, you know? Despite all of this, in the grand scheme of things the story is so, so, so, so good all I've criticized before doesn't really bother me that much past the ending.
Gloria Pires's portrayal of Nise da Silveira is good. Other actors and actresses, especially the mental health pacients, shine in more believability and boldness. And as for the last section, editing and sound design are technical aspects badly-ish explored during the movie in my opinion, although cinematography is on point.
Edit: Typos.
The thing that bugged me about this movie is the sheer carelessness for a profound plot, interesting characters and character development and, most of all, dialogue. The film's original audio language is my mother tongue, and while watching it I just kept thinking over and over "WHO IN THE HELL TALKS LIKE THAT?". This could be my personal preference and experience, although dialogue and script could've been better thought out. Nonetheless, instead of criticizing the movie for what it should've been, I'll try to judge it for what it is:
You have two primary protagonists, none of which actually interpreted by real actresses because they're the singers the movie's based upon, who show almost zero and/or struggle to pass on charisma, passion or, for the lack of a better word, a credible perfomance. In contrast with the sometimes-passable-but-mostly-reasonable work of other actors and perfomances present in the movie - by REAL professional actors - our protagonists Ana Caetano and Vitória Falcão interpreting themselves seem, at the very least, mediocre and barely sympathetic. It's poorly acted and poorly written.
But, I won't come here and lie about this movie: cinematography, color grading and other technical aspects are very good, sometimes interesting and even clever. The production and artistic values showed me that the film was problably made in more than a few weeks, even though dialogue and performance led me to think it in the firstplace. There's also the social impact of having two LBGTQ protagonists in the form of a feature film, which is certainly awesome for the community. To end this section of praises, Ana and Vitória are so goddamn cute it's almost hypnotizing and, being some sort of romantic comedy, the movie did give me a few laughs and might grant you some good time too.
With this is mind, the film mostly shines when the songs hit. If you're looking for a cookie-cutter unremarkable musical-romantic comedy about modern relationships, this is the one. If you're looking for a more thorough inspection of love and relationship the bloated plot doesn't withstand itself in the middle of music video clips and unhappy performances, with characters who are unapologetic shallow and unispiring there's no real development in the story, goal, motivation, loss, fullfiling change, etcetera.
Just to remember: the way the movie treats sexuality, love and relationships is great, it's natural and stripped of awlful stigmas, and I don't doubt the whole experience can be wonderful to fans too (meaning it does have some pros), but all of it doesn't progress with some original character study or interesting plot, for example (I almost fell sleep during the movie a few times). Either way, it doesn't stop being essencially a simple, lazy-ish and adequate forgettable film in all of it's comercial glory.
Or maybe i'm just being too harsh over something that didn't had the pretension of being a cinematic masterpiece... who knows?
Edit: Typos.
