L'ange gardien

Portuguese cinema had a great evolution in this decade. Movies such as "La Cage Dorée", "Blood of My Blood", "Parque Mayer" or "Jogo de Damas" are some of the films that prove it. "Variações" joins this list and brings something new that few films bring with them: a love letter to the cinema. Although the budget in Portugal is small it is amazing how they can create films of this large size. João Maia was fantastic as a director as well as a screenwriter, the cinematography is very effective, a wardrobe that could have been better invested, but a great and fabulous makeup and hair styling. Sérgio Praia's performance is praiseworthy and deserves all the awards and a few more, I even dare to say that he should be the first Portuguese actor to compete for the Oscar nominations. Between "Parque Mayer" and "Variações" I don't know which one can compete for the nomination for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. But one thing is for sure this movie will make our Portuguese people cry.

Almost 2 hours about an one of the most important rock musicians of Portugal and you get more a hart listening singing of the actor than the getting famous context in the Portuguese society which could be more interesting for the not-knowing audience. The actors are good (except the solo singing parts) but the propose stays unclear.

I was positively impressed with João Maia's film and, above all, with the way Sérgio Praia incarnates the character of António. There were moments when real footage of the time was interposed and I was so much immersed in the actor's performance, that I could not tell which was which.

Afore going, I had seen some negative critiques, namely from the actual singer's brother, who claimed the film focused too much on the homossexual issue and less on the artist's career. I couldn't disagree more, for two reasons.

First, it is simply not true. The film focus mainly on the creative genius of the artist and his internal agony to create his art.

Second, yes, there is some attention brought on his love relationships, especially the one with Fernando Ataíde, but notice this: it's a biographic picture and sexuality is a central aspect in anyone's life - it is only natural that, in a film about the artist's life, some importance is given to his more fleshly passions. Furthermore, we are talking about Portugal in the 70's and 80's, a time when homossexuality was much more than a mere personal detail.

What I found to be missing in the film was any significant reference to the period António Ribeiro was in the war in Angola and his television debut by the tv host Júlio Isidro.

A continuously improvement on Portuguese cinema, glad to see the momentum!

I've made a review for Listen recently which came out after Variações, but regardless this just shows how the Portuguese cinema has been on a positive streak of great art work! Historically, Portuguese cinema hasn't been appreciated much on recent years, mostly by Portuguese audiences, the fact that Portuguese government doesn't give much incentives to culture and being hard to have high budget for movies might contribute to this idea, yet we have no lack of originality or great creative artists, as I mentioned on Listen which was probably the best Portuguese movie I've seen.

Now getting into this movie, Variações tells the story of a famous Portuguese singer back in the 80s, known for his eccentric behavior and looks, but also for his inspiring and creative music, he became an icon in the country even though his career was very short due to his tragic death, who most likely was caused by HIV, however due to the stigma that society places on such disease, to this day it is unclear if this was actually the cause.

From the movie we can see how music inspired his life and give him fuel to pursue his dreams, it's because he kept true to himself that people were drawn to him, he wasn't a conventional individual and didn't had much studies in music, however he had this drive to perform and to sing and people wanted to hear him. The movie shows this, and the Sérgio's performance as António is really good, I do believe however that the movie could've expanded more on his life.

I understand that this was the approach the writer and director decided to go, focusing more on his passion and music, which is all right, however I was expecting a closer look to António's mind, his thoughts on the prejudice of the people, on how they perceived him, on his success and how he felt generally, in this field we got a bit of a superficial approach, we got the icon and his path to become an historical figure of our culture, but we lack the knowledge of the man.

If it were for the acting, the photography, the custome design and the sets this movie would be a 10/10. It starts brilliantly, the beginning gives us hope of learning who António is, however it quickly becomes shallow. The character development just isn't there, the characters never come to life. The basic question of how Antonio Ribeiro became Variações is never answered, this movie was saved from being a let down by the actors.