MOVIE REVIEWS

Review by Filipe Manuel Neto

**Horrible.** On several occasions, I was quite critical of Portuguese cinema. He's either corny or virtually airtight scholarly. This film manages to stay out of these standards. It's a potential teen movie that would be better if it was able to give us a smart story, not just a sappy, predictable and cheap teen drama. Bruno Graciano is not a film director, he is a TV director who occasionally moonlights on cinema. He started his career in reality shows, then moved on to soap operas and, lately, has dedicated himself more to series and miniseries. It is noted that, unlike many colleagues in the trade, he drew inspiration from foreign directors, perhaps from Spanish and French cinema. So far, so good. In this film, he tried to make an omelet with few eggs, and at least he will be responsible for the fact that the film is not worse than it is. He knew how, for example, to intelligently use filming locations on the beaches of Alentejo, understanding their beauty and capturing it on film with well-crafted cinematography, especially in the outdoor scenes. The problem is that, without much more, the film ends up looking like a huge and expensive advertising spot for Portugal Tourism than a cinema work. And even with a low budget (it still had government support, but we know that, around here, supporting culture is the last concern of those in charge), one cannot understand the inconstancy of the screen format, which increases or decreases depending on, but it always looks like a stretched and ugly version of “cinemascope” (it looks like about 30:9). The cast boils down to two actresses: Laura Dutra and Bruna Quintas. Like film actresses, they are newcomers in their debut. They have made a career in soap operas and TV, which is all that in Portugal can earn an actor some real money, and both are so young that we forgive their enormous immaturity: with ham performances, almost histrionic, they go oscillating between screams, weeps and unbearably sugary scenes. And it's not worth showing their bottoms in very small thong-type bikinis, as this does not improve their quality as actresses. They're still "green", let's hope they ripen. I could still talk about the dialogues, terribly poor, in a poorly spoken Portuguese full of slang and profanity worthy of a troll. It's the common discourse among 20/30-year-old "doctors" in this country, but for me, who was brought up differently, it still makes my ears ring. What I cannot forgive is the miserable script signed by Joana Andrade. If the film has the unpleasant flavor of a cheap soap opera, we owe it to her. She works for soap operas, but she needs to understand that a movie script is not the same thing! In addition to the intolerable succession of clichés about friendship, love, flirting and teenage life, which make us sick, the story told, instead of talk about the relevance of living the youth, enjoying life, taking risks, does the opposite. The story of Alice and Fred is the story of two immature and irresponsible girls who thought it was a good idea to take a long trip without planning, without warning, without support, in a car that is not theirs and, above all, without proper medical precaution, an essential thing considering that Alice does not go out precisely because she is frail and sick! I cannot, nor should I, reveal too much of the plot, but I can still say that the script winks at the “gay” lobby, something I understand given how powerful Portuguese homosexuals are. Conveniently enough, the exact nature of the illness that restricts Alice's freedom is never clearly explained! And what do you do when you're robbed? You stole the first person who appears, obviously. They could have asked for help to go to the police, it would have been the most logical thing, but Joana Andrade doesn't even care. And where are their parents?! The concern of these two crazy chicks with their respective families is touching. Fifty years from now, they'll put their parents in nursing homes, or abandon them in the hospital's emergency room and disappear. After all, we have to live, enjoy each day, and the elderly get in the way, give work and expenses. It is not?