This fall, Walter Salles finally returned with his first feature in 12 twelve years, the moving political/family drama I’m Still Here. Led by a powerhouse performance by Fernanda Torres alongside Selton Mello and Fernanda Montenegro, Sony Classics will give Brazil’s Oscar entry a qualifying run beginning next week in LA before opening on January 17. Ahead of the release, the U.S. trailer has arrived for the Venice, TIFF, and NYFF selection.
Here’s the synopsis: “Brazil, 1971. Brazil faces the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. Eunice Paiva, a mother of five children, is forced to reinvent herself after her family suffers a violent and arbitrary act by the government. Based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s memoir, this story portrays an important part of Brazil’s hidden history. “
Savina Petkova said in her review, “Torres is stellar, even with such a hermetic character. Eunice is stoic, almost saintly in her devotion to family, the expressions of which never manage to elevate I’m Still Here from visual flatness, its surprisingly deep commitment to conventional shot continuity, and an overblown duration of 135 minutes. Suffering cannot be measured, neither familial nor national, but on this occasion Salles has somehow failed to find the right cinematic framework for this biopic storytelling. The film feels uncalibrated, but not in the free-flowing, depth-exploring, liberated kind of way.”
See the trailer below.
