A Metamorfose dos Pássaros

The Metamorphosis of Birds (A Metamorfose dos Pássaros) is a 2020 Portuguese film directed by Catarina Vasconcelos, blurring the lines between documentary, cinema, and drama. It is a poetic exploration of life, death, and familial relationships, particularly the nuanced perspectives of mothers, fathers, and daughters on existence and legacy.

The film uses stunning, dialogue-free visuals to weave a narrative about renewal and the inevitability of mortality. Through its meditative imagery and introspective tone, it invites viewers to ponder the beauty and fragility of life. However, its unconventional storytelling and slow pace may not appeal to all audiences.

While the film is undeniably thought-provoking, it leans heavily on abstract symbolism and artistic expression, which may resonate deeply with some but feel inaccessible or unengaging to others. As someone who reflected on its themes but didn't fully connect with it, I can appreciate its artistry without being captivated by its style.

The narrative is very very good. It has a dose of portugalismo all over. The images are like canvas. You could easily imagine that u are watching the movie at a gallery. Spoiler: it has nothing to do with birds. It's a metaphor. If you like. If you enjoy Terrence malick give this a chance.

The title of this review says it all. When I started to watch this film, it provided me with different multitude of sensations. It seemed like a poetic expression of camera, every scene creates an abstract art. No real dialogues between characters, only consisting of monologues of those characters portrayed in that film. This is a story of a family consisting of eight members, six of them are the children of Henriquez and Beatriz. The story is told through showcasing the nature and how it works, how we all related to the nature itself.

The most alluring thing about this movie is bold work of cinematography. Every frame is static and the objects in that frame moves so delicately that it creates some emotions to the viewers' minds. Every monologues of this film expresses the philosophy of life by comparing them with nature. It is an unorthodox form of storytelling through visual medium and I have to say, this is very bold one indeed!

Portugal's official entry to 2022's Oscars is a visually stunning documentary. Literally every frame of it is a masterpiece. It's emotional and compassionate but I couldn't connect to it. It's so philosophical and metaphorical, the monologues are so sophisticated which makes it annoying and hard to follow most of the time.

It's rare that you are simply overcome by beauty and you weep intensely because of it. This film is a symphony and perfect choreography of words, images sounds and universal feelings.

Writing this during the end credits and I feel I cannot grasp the immensity of what this film has risen in me.