Malu

Watched this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

"Malu" isn't something very new as the stories about womanhood and woman life from different perspectives have been discussed or explored in the past. Yet, filmmaker Pedro Freire doesn't hold back on capturing the essences of the narrative and the strong directing, writing, and performances are on the top notch.

The narrative is simple but the exploration of it's main themes on generational trauma, Brazilian politics, and complex, possible toxic, relationships were well-executed and they felt grounded and realistic. The characters are complex and challenging but in a way where they don't feel annoying, rather feeling realistic, understanding, and interesting.

The dialogue between the characters were well-written with some strong moments that are still burned into my memory as of writing this. The performances from the entire cast members are pretty great with all providing strong emotions and charm to their characters. Freire really captured the generational complexity very well between the three main characters with strong ambitious tones, dialogue and writing to the setting.

There are some faults as some of the pacing could be improved and I personally felt the climax isn't fully as impactful as it could have been. Nevertheless, it's really good to see more independent and art-house Brazilian works coming out.