Mal Viver

I have to begin this review by saying that after years of using IMDb to consult ratings I've never felt the need to create an account until now, to rate & review this film.

Every scene feels like a live painting, with enough time to carefully check the details and immerse yourself into the space as if you were there with the characters.

The storyline unfolds in such a controlled manner that lets you absorb and reflect on the character's journeys. It has the hability to make you contemplate the emotions and motivations of each of these women.

The cast was really great with a special highlight for Anabela Moreira (Piedade).

I left the theatre with goosebumps! Can't wait to see "Living Bad" (the story from the guests' point of view)

Mal Viver is more than a film; is an immersive experience into the minefield of family relationships, where love and resentment coexist in a non-stop dance. Canijo's work invites us to reflect on the weight of family ties and the role of physical space in the formation of memories and conflicts. With careful direction and an almost documentary approach, João Canijo transforms a seaside hotel into a stage for the tragedy and beauty of human coexistence. It is an invitation to the viewer to look inside themselves, through the eyes of a family that, despite its flaws, seeks to survive together, even when the past and wounds insist on manifesting themselves.

This Portuguese film (Bad Living) is the first part of a diptych of two films, both made by director Joao Canijo and released in 2023. "Bad Living" won the Silver Bear for the 2nd best film in competition at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival. The second film has the mirror title (Living Bad) and was also shown at the same edition of the festival in the parallel Encounters section. Joao Canijo's direction, scriptwriting, and conceptualization of the diptych makes one sit up. Both films have the same actors, with their screen-time inverted. "Bad Living" details an all women cast, of a family spread over three live generations, owning a hotel and their complex relationships. "Living Bad" is about the mirror world of a group of guests arriving at the hotel, with the same hotel owners dealing with their problems in the periphery. More interestingly, "Bad Living" is loosely based on the director's childhood (ref. IMDB trivia). "Living Bad" relates to the guests' interactions with the hotel owners and their traumas. Most interestingly, director Canijo structures the films on the lines of the works of writer-theosophist August Strindberg--whose works were influenced by his own life that switched from anti-Semitism to free thinking to atheism and, finally, back to religion. While I write this, I have yet to view the second part of the diptych. I will take keen interest henceforth in director/screenplaywriter Canijo's works. Finally, the ensemble cast of "Bad Living" impressed me.

A very well-made film in many ways. Complex and dense. A pearl among superficial formulas. Memorable performances, great script and cinematography. A realistic drama about human complexity and the weight that many people carry in their lives. While most films are pure entertainment (and there is no problem with that), films like this are necessary, not only to get out of the ordinary, but also to help us better understand people and their attitudes. My greetings to the producers, the director and screenwriter and everyone involved in this production. My wife and I left amazed and even now, we have conversations about the immense number of layers and situations involving the characters.

Mal Viver dives into the complexity of human relationships in a way that draws the viewer attention. This approach is captivating and hypnotic, ensnaring us in an emotional web that tightens as the film progresses. In my opinion, the way Canijo builds tension and depth within a single location, is almost similar to an Hitchcock movie.

However, the film's brilliance is slightly overshadowed by Canijo's insistence on working with the same core group of actresses. While there's no doubt about the talent of names like Rita Blanco, Cleia Almeida, Beatriz Batarda, Nuno Lopes, Rafael Morais and Anabela Moreira, the constant repetition of this "private club" limits the creative richness that Portuguese cinema could explore. There are other equally brilliant actors in the country who could bring new dynamics and emotional layers to the director's distinctive style. This preference for the familiar, though understandable in terms of chemistry and trust, becomes a double-edged sword, suggesting a certain artistic conservatism, and a personal obsession, that contrasts with the film's narrative boldness.

Even so, Mal Viver shines as an intimate and unsettling study of family relationships and the crushing weight of social expectations. With echoes of Hitchcock and a clear authorial signature, Canijo once again proves himself to be one of the most interesting filmmakers in contemporary Portuguese cinema. There's only the hope that, in the future, he will broaden his collaborative horizons, bringing other voices and faces into his fascinating cinematic universe.