L'ange gardien

A continuously improvement on Portuguese cinema, glad to see the momentum!

I've made a review for Listen recently which came out after Variações, but regardless this just shows how the Portuguese cinema has been on a positive streak of great art work! Historically, Portuguese cinema hasn't been appreciated much on recent years, mostly by Portuguese audiences, the fact that Portuguese government doesn't give much incentives to culture and being hard to have high budget for movies might contribute to this idea, yet we have no lack of originality or great creative artists, as I mentioned on Listen which was probably the best Portuguese movie I've seen.

Now getting into this movie, Variações tells the story of a famous Portuguese singer back in the 80s, known for his eccentric behavior and looks, but also for his inspiring and creative music, he became an icon in the country even though his career was very short due to his tragic death, who most likely was caused by HIV, however due to the stigma that society places on such disease, to this day it is unclear if this was actually the cause.

From the movie we can see how music inspired his life and give him fuel to pursue his dreams, it's because he kept true to himself that people were drawn to him, he wasn't a conventional individual and didn't had much studies in music, however he had this drive to perform and to sing and people wanted to hear him. The movie shows this, and the Sérgio's performance as António is really good, I do believe however that the movie could've expanded more on his life.

I understand that this was the approach the writer and director decided to go, focusing more on his passion and music, which is all right, however I was expecting a closer look to António's mind, his thoughts on the prejudice of the people, on how they perceived him, on his success and how he felt generally, in this field we got a bit of a superficial approach, we got the icon and his path to become an historical figure of our culture, but we lack the knowledge of the man.

I was positively impressed with João Maia's film and, above all, with the way Sérgio Praia incarnates the character of António. There were moments when real footage of the time was interposed and I was so much immersed in the actor's performance, that I could not tell which was which.

Afore going, I had seen some negative critiques, namely from the actual singer's brother, who claimed the film focused too much on the homossexual issue and less on the artist's career. I couldn't disagree more, for two reasons.

First, it is simply not true. The film focus mainly on the creative genius of the artist and his internal agony to create his art.

Second, yes, there is some attention brought on his love relationships, especially the one with Fernando Ataíde, but notice this: it's a biographic picture and sexuality is a central aspect in anyone's life - it is only natural that, in a film about the artist's life, some importance is given to his more fleshly passions. Furthermore, we are talking about Portugal in the 70's and 80's, a time when homossexuality was much more than a mere personal detail.

What I found to be missing in the film was any significant reference to the period António Ribeiro was in the war in Angola and his television debut by the tv host Júlio Isidro.

Almost 2 hours about an one of the most important rock musicians of Portugal and you get more a hart listening singing of the actor than the getting famous context in the Portuguese society which could be more interesting for the not-knowing audience. The actors are good (except the solo singing parts) but the propose stays unclear.

I was expecting more. I mean, sometimes the plot of Variações is shallow. I finished this film without knowing anything new about this great artist. The movie shows us just the fight of António to be a singer and one important relationship in his life, however never goes too far and it's afraid of explore the deepest points of his life and personality. However the cinematography, the scenarios and the "clothes" are incredible, it portrays very well the portuguese culture during the 70s/80s. I also loved Sérgio Praia's performance, he's amazing and I hope to watch him in more great productions.

It's not perfect, but is the movie that Portugal needs to show to the world how we can also do great films, we just need dedication and passion as a lot of people from this crew had.

When entering the movie, I didn't know much about António Variações besides the great artist he was and his unique way of dressing. The movie shows his biography in a superficial way and focus more on the music he wrote. In my opinion, it should be more balanced with his personal life, tastes, way of thinking and feelings. Also, the movie doesn't explain how he got "Variações" since his name is António Ribeiro. I enjoyed the way they recorded and the work of the main actor, but I simply feel the need, after seeing this movie, to search more about Variações, some things that the movie couldn't explain. However, it is nice to see that there are more options in the cinema besides the same and usual movies, specially in portuguese with this quality.