For those about to watch this short film adaptation from Álvares de Azevedo novel expecting to get a full view of the story and/or are in
desperate need to cheat a literature exam, my advice is: read the book. The film by Yghor Boy only covers one of the many short stories told
by a group of friends at a tavern, and here even the famous author becomes part of the piece himself.
In it, Álvares (Victor Mendes) confides to a friend that he's finishing his writings and he needs some input on it. The story is the
segment Johann (played by Sergio Siviero), a man who duels with another one (Ricardo Merini) after some misunderstanding during a pool game.
One loses, one wins but as the night progresses a series of darker events will prove that winning sometimes isn't the best thing.
It's a quite twisted story with some great use of dark humor elements, and there's even countless of convention breaks since the author
is part of the story. Another great thing about its presentation is that though the story takes place in the 19th Century, the real streets
of São Paulo from the historical center are presented as they are today, no art-direction used to go back in time; instead, the director
films on historical locations, late at night so you don't even notice the more recent constructions. It all feels very authentic.
I won't do much criticism about the story except that it's a very tense thing - I read the book way back in time and don't feel the need
to revisit. But from the summary I read it can be said the film follows exactly the series of events without altering much facts. Also worthy
of praise is the amazingly group of young actors gathered here, they're all great. Definitely one of the sweetest surprises I've seen this
year. 8/10.
