(A scene from the
film)
(artSMart reviewer Pranesh covered the recent Durban
International Film Festival.)
I want to watch it
again. I want to understand it more. (Review by Pranesh Maharaj)
Directed by Paulo
Sacramento who also wrote the screenplay, Riverrun
features Lee Taylor, Simone Lilescu, Roberto Audio, Vinicius dos Anjos. The
cinematographer is Aloysio Raulino.
A love triangle
that takes you through the streets of a bustling Sãu Paulo. I saw great imagery
and brilliant photography. Two values lost me: one was the writer’s choice to
be ‘poetic’ and my lack of knowing the language; Portuguese. Subtitles are
valuable but the colloquial understanding is inevitably lost, leaving us in a
quandary about the result of this script.
I kept asking “who
did they make this for?” I wanted them to have made it for me but clearly they
made it for themselves only. In my attempt to grasp what was going on amidst
the steamy sex scenes and racy bike rides; I found the Carlos character (one of
Renata’s love interests) very intriguing. He seemed to have old demons that
plagued his outlook on life. Every now and then we got a glimpse of life
through his eyes and interpreted those glimpses to that of a renegade from a
recent revolution.
With the film
ending on a shot of Carlos and his son overlooking the city; I realised that
this story is very less about the love triangle and more about Carlos’s
journey. That each corner of the triangle represents a hierarchy of sorts that
divides a capitalistic hub, Carlos’s son representing the lowest of the
classes.
A very interesting
scene with a water bottle that morphs into a sweltering petrol bomb turns your
attention to Carlos and his journey. For me, it was the result of fighting for
something, to win that fight and realise much too late that you have created
another monster; a greater one.
My difficulties
aside; I want to watch it again. I want to understand it more. I want to learn
something. – Pranesh Maharaj
The 35th Durban International Film Festival was organised by the Centre
for Creative Arts at the University of KZN (a special project of the Deputy
Vice Chancellor of the College of Humanities, Cheryl Potgieter) with support
from the National Film and Video Foundation, KZN Department of Economic
Development & Tourism, KZN Film Commission, City of Durban, German Embassy,
Goethe Institute, Industrial Development Corporation, KZN Department of Arts
and Culture and range of other valued partners. For more information visit www.durbanfilmfest.co.za
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