Aquarius

First of all I'd like to apologize myself due any English mistakes.

I didn't understand those bad reviews that I just read here. In fact the movie is simple, with a simple a story but very emotional. Here in Brazil we face racism and a social fight which is pointed out in the movie.

The actors are good and Sônia Braga spectacular. I could see this movie more ten times and I am sure that I would always have something to learn.

I'm giving you this review without political issues, I am just a cinema lover. Do not miss the opportunity to see how prejudice and racism are frequent around the world. Also you're gonna experiment a time travel throughout the memories!

Aquarius wouldn't have made its way into my watchlist if it wasn't for Letterboxd. One amongst the highest-rated films on the site for the previous year, it's disappointing that it didn't leave much of an impression on me and even though Sônia Braga delivers a fantastic performance, this Brazilian- French drama as a whole is more or less underwhelming.

Aquarius tells the story of a retired music critic who is the last resident of the titular building that happens to have a rich history. The plot follows her life & a chain of events that are set in motion when she refuses to sell her apartment to the construction company which already owns the rest of the old building and intends to replace it with a new one.

Written & directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, the film opens with a brief prologue that serves no purpose to the plot whatsoever and then narrates its tale in three sections. Plodding for the most part and indulging in moments that play a role in providing a deeper insight into the protagonist's arc, the film makes for a wonderful character study but it could've been so much more.

The sequences that capture the clash between the veteran resident & the company that owns the peripheral surrounding are fascinating but whenever it delves into her own life, it becomes a bit dull. I'm sure there are plenty of political & social undertones beneath its surface but to an outsider like me, it felt trivial to the main plot, and the only aspect that made me sit through it was Sônia Braga's input.

A slow-moving, often-frustrating & mostly unappealing cinema that stays on one level throughout its overlong runtime and manages to get interesting only during the final chapter, Aquarius is finely crafted & nicely shot and paints quite a portrait of the leading character but it isn't what I thought it would be. Maybe I dived into it with wrong expectations or maybe it actually is bland, either way, I'm not its intended audience.

Aquarius is an interesting film, which has a good photography and a beautiful soundtrack, besides a compelling performance of the cast. Sonia Braga is great, playing a mature woman who stands for her rights and opinions. The story is shot in Recife and slowly presents the almost silent tug of war between Clara (Sonia) and the construction company. They want Clara sells them her apartment - the last one to be sold in the whole building - for the construction of a new property. The development of the characters is good, Kleber Mendonça Filho finds the correct pace for telling us Clara's story, so we can see why is so important to her to stay living in that place. In the other side, we have enough clues of how bad the other people fight against Clara, because there's real money and other interests involved. Although I think it worths watching, I recognize it is not a film for everyone; maybe some details only can be truly understood for people who has spent some time living in Brazil. I refer to the almost invisible social war between wealthy and poor people, represented in many subtle dialogues, gestures, and eye contact among characters. That's why I don't give 10, as a warning for non-Brazilian spectators.

Aquarius is a movie that tries to catch the audience by showing our almost forgotten resilience, commitment to individual values and beliefs. The main plot is a story about a wealthy lady facing a frequent and "polite" invitation to sell her apartment for a greedy and ruthless real state company who wants to put down her old building. Meanwhile, she not only tries to keep her place, but to buy other units.

Movie's director, Kleber Mendonça, is a very skilled storyteller when it comes to expose the most bitter side of Brazilian's contradictory elite society. I've watched all his movies and shorts and I must tell, they are not comfortable. Yet they disclose things that either we don't talk about or we don't clearly see. It's a mind blowing criticism over our cultural trends and social costumes.

As for the main actress, Sonia Braga is one of the most iconic actresses in Brazil. She moved to US to live a relationship with Robert Redford, another great actor and director. As years passed by, she did connected with America's movie industry, though she never left her carrier in Brazil entirely.

In 2013 Kleber wrote a script that according to Sonia, while reading it, was a "present" from its author. So he invited her and she promptly replied. The result is this movie where, as The Telegraph correctly said, "will make you want to move to Brazil".

This is a very interesting film. I didn't really know anything about it and I found its narrative structure and plot pretty minimalist but still very impactful for its characters and for its themes. There seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding the film and its nonselection as the Best Foreign Language Film by its country into the Oscar category. I do hope that all of that controversy doesn't end up hurting the film in terms of viewership. The biggest reason to see this is probably Sonia Braga's performance. On the surface it doesn't really look like a particularly demanding or challenging role, but to say that would also be to discount and diminish the power on the things she does throughout. More than anything, it's an intriguing performance and the film is definitely recommended.