O Bando Sagrado

I've said several times in reviews on this site that I'm not keen on "arty" films as the artiness is usually there for its own sake and not to advance the narrative or plot or to say something new in an innovative way.

Well, the artiness here is completely integral to the short film. Dream sequences segueing into real life, fantasies, unsimulated sex and solo pleasure were all rolled together on a switchback ride of the imagination. A voice-over in both Portuguese and English added to the excitement and served as an anchoring point to the visuals.

I'm pleased to have seen this. I'd been apprehensive that it would all dissolve into a mush of nonsense but it didn't.