Monday, April 9, 2018

Arábia: Reviews from the 2017 Curaçao Film Festival #ciffr


Arábia (Araby), João Dumans & Affonso Uchoa, 2017 (Uruguay)
Sunday, April 9th, 2017, 18:15

A story within a story, both of them riveting, this film is a journey of loss and nostalgia, of social injustice—but also, most poignantly, of hope and joy and the beauty of a simple life. It's a hard film with a soft heart; a story of love and poverty, of hope and its clash with reality.


Brazil has been producing some outstanding material in film of late. In the past three years, we've caught some unbelievably good Brazilian productions at the festival; different voices, different styles, very, very different stories, but all superb. Young directors, young writers, young actors: it's like a new generation has found its voice, and the story they're telling is one that resonates with the entire world 

This one is officially an Uruguayan production, but the themes and the setting, as well as, of course, the directors/writers, are quintessentially Brazil. I'm afraid, though, it probably won't be easy to find, especially outside of Latin America (it didn't make much impact in the big festivals, or maybe it didn't even play in them), but if you come across any Brazilian films, take a chance on them. It's well worth your while.




3 comments :

  1. I'll have to look into some of these Brazilian movies at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Guilie - I'll keep an eye open for this .. I've seen one or two Brazilian films via our society in Eastbourne ... but definitely hope to watch this sometimes - cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love stories of hope. Even when the movie is difficult to watch because it's a tough topic, when there is even a slice of optimisim given, I'll watch it..even when that hope gets taken away as reality sets in because, well, that's life isn't it? I just watched a movie on Netflix called 6 Balloons and while it wasn't riveting, it was truthful. That's why I really enjoyed it. It gave me a moment of hope and also reality.

    Sidenote - expect an email from me in the coming week or so when work settles down :)

    Elsie

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...