I mentioned this briefly in the introduction for the series and I’ll reiterate it here. Portugal turned out to be one of the more troublesome countries when it came to finding a film, and it’s not something that I really anticipated. I came across numerous titles that I thought could’ve been interesting selections and yet too often I would browse their production details on IMDB only to see that there had been no distribution whatsoever to the US. With online streaming options being rather spotty, I made the drastic decision to forgo all of my prior research in order to employ a far more simple if not brute method. I simply went to a library and investigated all of their Portuguese language films to see what was there. Once I sorted out all the Brazilian films, which comprised a significant majority of this set, only a handful of films that actually originated from Portugal itself remained, which included João Nicolau’s second feature film. And no, this wasn’t my initial idea for a Portuguese film. While the following categories may not be completely mutually exclusive, often in this series I don’t watch the films that I want to, but rather the ones that I can.
This film did appear in theaters at the 2016 Wisconsin Film Festival, but apart from this I’m not certain that it’s been screened anywhere else in the US. The people responsible for its access in America are a film distribution company called Altered Innocence. According to their website, the film is available for online streaming at Amazon Prime, Vimeo and Kanopy. As for libraries there weren’t many holdings out there to find. According to worldcat.org there were a total of 39 copies being held worldwide, with a fair number of them in Illinois. Then again I suppose this latter point has to be true since I blindly stumbled onto a copy. Within a 20 mile radius of where I live there were copies being held at 2 public libraries, within a 40 mile radius I would had 5 libraries to choose from. A Blu-Ray copy of the film can also be rented out from Facets.
This film had me worried a bit in the beginning. With its early use of short, static shots, its quick jump cutting, and its obvious lack of narrative bulk, the film initially struck me as another in a long line of slow-moving, low-budget, indie productions. If that wasn’t enough, the beginning of the film at times felt dull and sterile. And yet there was something mysteriously odd about the film that allowed it to possess some modest charm. I nonetheless felt as if the film would eventually become more interesting the longer that it progressed, despite the fact that early on there was a dearth of evidence to suggest such a notion. Perhaps this sensation is borne out of the many years that I’ve spent watching films. Maybe I’ve gotten to a point in my life as a cinephile, where I’d be more surprised if there wasn’t a payoff in a film that employed a long, elaborate and meticulously staged set-up. John From for the most part did eventually offer such a payoff, but in its own legitimately weird manner. It gradually eased you into its idiosyncratic qualities. The film was careful not to indulge too much into its quirkiness, nor did it play such elements for any shock value.
Even though they weren’t horribly compelling, the opening segments of the film were effective in setting the appropriate mood and tone for the film. The way these scenes were edited really enhanced the drab, routine-heavy boredom of lazy, listless summer days. For instance the scene of Sara putting Rita’s hair in a ponytail got shown twice with the exact same dialogue and background music. While this threatened to make the film excruciating to watch, it still deftly established the bland, modern world in which these characters resided. The main character of Rita was also interesting in that she was at an age where she was free from the burden of adult responsibilities, but yet also incapable of pursuing her wildest ambitions. Given both the character and the environment in which she lived, it almost seemed reasonable for Rita to succumb to the fantasy world that she constructed within her own mind. The film made her gentle descent into madness seem tolerable and understandable, since any viewer would more than likely desire the same type of excitement and adventure that the main character did. Thus the shift to a more Melanesian-inspired motif became a welcome change to the film. It also gave the film some thematic depth. In Rita’s willingness to envision her Lisbon neighborhood in Melanesian attributes, was there not a desire to eschew the cultural mores that would deem the romantic tryst that she fancied as inappropriate?
In spite of the film’s lack of effervescent action, the cinematography was still excellent with a style dominated by its well crafted static shots. At times the film showed a real knack for staging images that were visually striking. Even in its modest use of motion there was great deal of grace and creativity in how the filmmakers would shoot these scenes. For instance in the supermarket sequence there was a playful coyness in how the camera peeked around the edge of a gondola to spy on Felipe. During a later scene in Rita’s bedroom there was excellent skill shown in the downward camera pan that was executed in perfect rhythm with the actress as she plopped herself onto the floor in a fit of desperation.
The mise-en-scène though was its most noteworthy aspect given the contrast in how the film staged its scenes in its bipolar extremes. The opening half of the film would cast the characters against the brick and mortar of its distinctly urban location, while the latter half saw scenes staged in a more natural, rustic manner with perspectives that suggested the presence of invasive vegetation. I also liked how gradually the filmmakers incorporated these latter elements into the film and how the Melanesian elements never felt truly authentic. This didn’t just give shape to the madness of Rita’s fantasies, but also exhibited a playfulness that gave the film a modest sense of humor. The mise-en-scène during the latter half of the film was easily its the most enjoyable element and one in which I felt as if the filmmakers wanted you to be entertained by the experience.
Sadly I can’t say similar things about the acting. Júlia Palha did an excellent job in portraying her character’s overwhelming ennui, but often in these types of films I have to question whether or not this is a good thing. Palha’s commitment in capturing this side of Rita, didn’t bring much charm or intrigue to the film. This was not to say that Palha didn’t show the occasional flair of personality. There was a decent amount of emotion in the dinner scene when Rita learned of the planned family vacation. I also liked the spirit that Palha showed during the ‘face paint’ scenes. But in spite of moments like these, perhaps the most indelible images that I took away from this film were the static shots of Palha looking off into the distance with a completely vacant, dead-eyed stare.
Many of the performers from the supporting cast seemed to conform to this general template. Overall the acting had very little spark or verve to speak of. The performers rarely breathed life into these characters. It felt too perfunctory, as if the performers just showed up to the set merely to put in a shift. In the role of Rita’s father Adriano Luz showed some emotion in the scene where he questioned her about the tenets’ meeting, but even here he seemed passive and indifferent towards Rita’s confession. While Leonor Silveira was a bit more lively at times as Rita’s mother, there were still scenes when she seemed far too subdued. For instance in one scene we see Silveira sitting on the couch while watching television with the same blank, empty visage that Palha would. The fact that Palha would briefly enter this scene still generated no reaction whatsoever from Silveira. I also thought both Luz and Silveira noticeably underplayed their roles in the dinner scene. There was something eerily silent and absent from both performers here, with neither barely reacting to Palha when she got visually upset and stormed off.
I felt this same vacant, hollow ambiance towards the work of Filipe Vargas and João Xavier in the role of Nuno. While neither got as much screen time as the parents, they did little with it crafting characters that were too bland and reserved to generate much excitement. One of the best examples of this was the ‘parking lot’ sequence involving Vargas. Here he was so restrained and accepting of what had happened that he barely conveyed the notion that his car was stolen. He also didn’t seem to have any real chemistry with Palha, even during his nighttime photo session, which might have existed within the fantasy realm of the story. Overall it was a boring and stale performance by Vargas. He made the character of Felipe seem predominately aloof and not in a mysterious or intriguing manner either.
If there was one performer who broke free from this mold, it was Clara Reidenstein in the role of Sara. Reidenstein probably put more passion into her performance than the rest of the cast combined, making Sara easily the least robotic of all the characters in the film. In fact during the early stages of John From, one could argue that Reidenstein helped carry the film before all the weird stuff started to happen. I also liked how Sara was afforded a much more casual and intimate relationship with Rita, which allowed Palha to broaden the portrayal of her character. Ultimately Palha did her best work in the scenes that she shared with Reidenstein.
This was a strange film that I have some mixed emotions about. On one hand there was little to hook you into the film. There was hardly much of a story, it had a paper-thin plot and the acting left a lot to be desired. And yet I could still appreciate how well it was shot and I enjoyed the overall pace and rhythm of the exposition. The end result was a film that practically tried to bore me to death in the opening half, but which spent its latter half invoking fantasy elements in such a tepid, nonchalant manner that it became absurdly enchanting. It managed to be just barely weird enough to leave a strong impression.