Aquarius

Quiet, precise and profoundly critical, Aquarius is a sharp depiction of an ever changing, ever adapting Brazilian society, increasingly subject to a disproportionate capitalism that is bulldozing over identity, history and sentiment.

Split into three chapters - one of them construed as a prologue - there would not be a better way of introducing who this(ese) character(s) is(are) and setting up what their nature is, what motivates them and what kind of culture, family values and roots they hold throughout. Led by a powerful and heartfelt performance by Sónia Braga that single-handedly carries the film, meticulously embodying all of the character's traits in her continuous struggles with motherhood, disease, change and most importantly time lapse. Her artistic preferences and passions show how a deeply and typically traditional society can still honor and maintain their culture while not being averse to technology, change and evolution.

At the end of the day, Aquarius is an elegant tale of how opinions and values change with time and how easily the current generation might be bent and influenced by money and greed and how that greed can easily stampede over traditionalism. A definite must see.

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 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.

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.

I did not react to Aquarius session end, I left the movie anaesthetized, not knowing what to think. Complex films like this do not involve value judgments. As the scenes were sat in memory (pictures, lines, track, details), things became more Clear. Clara (Clear, in Portuguese), by the way, is the name of the character of Sonia Braga, an old woman, a retired music critic, who decides to fight against a conglomerate of construction, preventing the building is demolished. With this wisp of plot, the young and talented director Kleber Mendonça, speaks of memory, time, social, loss, resistance, prejudice, ethics, preservation ... It's such a rich work that would need to be watched more times for an accurate and faithful analysis. There are moments of delicacy that made me breath away. The first part of the film, Clara's hair is bright. Unable to hold back tears. Aquarius is authorial film, which does not follow formulas, is not related to cinematographic conventions, is not entertainment. It was done to annoy, make the viewer to think and question. Do not expect the impact of City of God, or the catharsis of Central Station, Aquarius has another footprint.