Kleber Mendonça Filho takes us on a slow, self referential meander through his home suburb of Recife in Brazil and the history of its cinemas.

The director of Aquarius (2016), Bacurau (2019), and Neighbouring Sounds (2012), the first chapter is about Mendonça’s family’s apartment that served as a set for many of his early films. There are diverting stories of Nico, the dog next-door, termites, cats, and how the home was defined by his mother. The junctures between home movie, film clips and documentary are deliberately unclear and create a powerful meditation on identity and loss.

Then we travel through the cinemas of the past, the celebrities who visited (you see a young Jamie Lee Curtis on holiday with her parents), and what they have become. The section on marquees – the board outside the cinema displaying the film title – was interesting. Photos that include marquees taken over the decades show the evolution of cinema as well as the neighbourhood.

It’s a long slow ride though, and I fought to keep my eyes open. There would be lots of detail I missed, so I deserve the confusion I experienced with the final scene of the taxi driver with superpowers. It felt like I’d woken up in a different film.

Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Origin: Brazil (2023)
Language: English
Genre: Documentary

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