I really don't like to write bad reviews, but I think people are being absolutely mislead by the marketing of this movie so I had to say something for the sake of objective truth.
I do believe people are encouraging this movie and talking about it as a big accomplishment just because it was made by a Portuguese, not because they really liked it.
There is no such think as an objectively good or bad film, and even though I thought this one was a hopelessly bad one, that's just my opinion; what I will tell you are some objective, indisputable facts and from there you can judge by yourself. For each fact, I'll add a small input on my opinion:
- The all plot is driven by extreme coincidences and never-explained supernatural events.
There are no laziest plot devices than these. The abominable and too old "Deus ex Machina" is present in almost every step of the story. It makes you feel disconnected from it because everything is so unreal, so impossible, so not credible. You would buy it if it happened a couple of times, but no, it's all based on it and it happens over and over again. The story makes you loose the sense of causality. When you break all the rules of logic and plausibility, anything could happen next and suddenly you don't care anymore - you're not hooked, anxious to know what happens next, because you know a perfect solution will just pop out of the blue with no justification whatsoever.
- The dialogues are dreadfully unconvincing. No one in this planet would ever talk like these characters. They keep over-explaining everything so the audience can get the necessary details.
Cinema is supposed to be about VISUAL storytelling, exposition of facts should never be achieved through narration if possible - and when you must use narration, you shouldn't disguise it as casual dialogue. It doesn't look casual. Al all.
- These characters have nothing to do with real people. They don't reflect human nature, they don't act nor react like humans would.
They have no dimension, they are not credible at all. You won't believe in any of their emotions because they were really poorly constructed and overall poorly cast (example: if you want the teenage girl to be the stereotype of a bookworm, geeky, unsocial girl, who has trouble finding a boyfriend, you won't choose an absolutely stunning, "prom queen" blonde teenager to play it. No one will buy that). Thus you feel again completely disconnected from the drama. Which is the cause of the next topic:
- The film makes you feel embarrassed when you're supposed to be moved by it, because everything in it feels so appallingly melodramatic, filled with utterly exaggerated and ultimately fake emotional responses.
In a nutshell: this movie is completely plot-driven and uses this as an excuse to be extremely lazy in the characterization. This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that even the plot is unbelievably lazy.
The locations were beautiful, but in some scenes it felt like the filmmaker said: "wow, this is a cool place, let's film a scene in here just because this is so cool" - plane scrap scene being the best example of this.
The shots and the editing were good, but I thought the image was too sharp most of the time, which was distracting and un-cinematic, too clean and oversaturated, which made it look unrealistic for most of the scenes - some of these are limitations of shooting on HD, but some could be avoided.
Soundtrack - pretty reasonable.
I don't know the previous works of the director, but from this film I would say he has a good potential as a director, but not as a screenwriter.
I tried to do a constructive review, I hate to talk trash and I have no pleasure in criticizing other people's hardwork. I actually incentivize and encourage Portuguese cinema to move forward, and this was probably the only reason that made me go and see this film.
But I pay to see cinema and thus I want to see good cinema. I don't want to spend the time that I payed to be sitting on that chair feeling bored and embarrassed. And I won't excuse it when it happens just because it was made by a Portuguese. Why are we always so apologetic to ourselves? This is why we don't evolve.
I didn't think this was good cinema and I was mislead by the public opinion who continues to talk marvels about this film. Is everyone blind? Why all this positive propaganda? I can't actually believe I'm the only one having this opinion.
Good cinema starts with a good screenplay.
This filmed was ruined by a dreadful, awful, screenplay.
It's funny because in terms of structure, the screenplay is perfect - it obeys all the structure rules possible.
But a screenplay is not just about structure and this one has nothing more to it.
To Fernando Fragata, I think you have good potential, I admire you and how far you have reached, and I deeply encourage you to continue. I do. I will pay to see your next film. But please, don't cheat me. Please give me a good story. If you are a filmmaker, you can't be a lazy person - I'm sure you're not. But you gave me a very lazy story this time. Please don't do it again.
Best regards.
