Um Céu de Estrelas

I saw this movie yesterday at the Carthage Film Festival here in Tunis. I was really blown away by its intensity. It's truly a very complex and powerful drama magnificently shot. I'll sure be there for the second screening at the festival next week!

This free adaptation of Fernando Bonassi's debut novel is a tense and involving experience that despite its limitations and lack of originality manages to captivate viewers and leave them at the edge of the seat without using special effects or overdoing anything. For a film made for first-time director Tata Amaral and debut leading actors Leona Cavali and Paulo Vespúcio this one is quite special and very daring.

The story takes place in a simple house located in a simple neighborhood in São Paulo where a young hairdresser (Leona) gets the unexpected visit of her ex-boyfriend (Paulo), who just wanted to return some of her belongings. One of those typical things where one part thinks it's just a quick hello and goodbye and then life goes on - and she's desperatly want him to go since they don't have anything else to say to each other, she moved on and she's about to make a trip to the U. S. to further develop her career, a unique opportunity. The man, apparently, doesn't much going forward yet he wants to convince her that they should get back together. But after the woman's mother appearance and a discussion takes place, the scenery moves to a dangerous situation where they become hostages at gun point and a recipe for disaster is formed.

In this day and age it's a little hard to convince audiences in watching something cliched as "A Starry Sky" because it doesn't seem to offer much in terms of story, and most audiences will be questioning what's the point of it all or the ultimate gain one could have besides the "entertainment". Well, I see it as a somewhat version of reality, the typical story one follows when watching sensational police/crime news on TV where everytime you hear something like this happening. The film offers a view inside of the hostage situation and never leaves that, it's always on the inside even when the cops and media show up. It's a poignant reflection on society, failed relationships and how some people go to a breaking point mode thinking they might get a good result if there's a gun involved.

The rhythm reproduced by Amaral is a very frantic one, with the camera moving back and forth close to the actors in the most tense sequences, and also the most unusual ones such as when the couple have sex in the middle of the situation (a long, almost explicit, sequence. A well coordinated and choreographed moment with the actors in the tiny corridor). The dialogues aren't so important but they're greatly expressed by the duo. As told earlier, it's a free adaptation of a novel and it's quite close to the original material - the main difference is that the story there reflected a lot of the man's inner thoughts and streams of conciousness where he remembers things from his past.

Good and gripping, but it's easy to understand why it might fail to appeal to certain audiences, specially those who might have seen this scenario presented in another movie. I recommend it simply on some pecularities contained in it, and the thrill of it all. 8/10.

I saw this film by accident, a wired south american production. The whole action takes place inside the main character's house, and this is a woman who wants to go to Miami. But all of a sudden her boyfriend shows up and their relationship is conflicted.

I don't think this is an art movie, this is just a bad movie, in a very strange way. The sex scene is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in a film. If the subject is south american movies, then watch 'Central Station' and 'O Quatrilho', or maybe even the new Hector Babenco (director of 'At Play In the Fields Of The Lord' and 'Kiss Of The Spider Woman')movie , 'Foolish Heart'.