Blood of My Blood • Sangue do Meu Sangue (2011)
Genre: Drama
Director: João Canijo
Starring: Rafael Morais, Rita Blanco, Cleia Almeida, Anabela Moreira
Language: Portuguese
Duration: 139 min (theatrical) / 190 min (television)
Summary:
The trials of a working class family from the slums on the outskirts of Lisbon.
Blood of My Blood is a film written and directed by João Canijo. It premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, and also screened at the 2011 San Sebastian Film Festival where it received the FIPRESCI award. It is Portugal's official submission to the 2013 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
Portuguese director João Canijo's eighth feature, is an intimate portrait of a tight knit family living in Padre Cruz, a poor neighborhood just outside Lisbon, in which he perfectly stirs together the kitchen sink sensibilities of Mike Leigh; the overlapping ensembles of Robert Altman, the sprawling streetwise narrative of HBO's The Wire; and a sharp dosage of telenovela inspired flair for added spice.
The result is an impressively crafted film that's complicated without being confusing, meticulously choreographed without being theatrical, and emotionally and dramatically engaging without cheap tricks. It's a story about the things people do for love; and as the title evokes, especially one's own family.
Canijo takes his time to very carefully introduce and establish each of the main characters and their relationships with one another in a series of extended takes. It's all done without obvious exposition, but through small clues in the natural dialog and the physical body language of the actors. I've read that the director spent two years preparing his cast for filming and it shows. Even the smallest interactions between any two characters are full of subtext, detail, and history, that we can read beyond the words that are spoken; and all of these scenes are impeccably acted, in a completely natural way that makes the scripted seem spontaneous.
Instead of using cuts, he has a fondness for shooting multiple conversations happening at once. Sometimes they are in the same room, sometimes not, and all these split scenes are expertly framed and coordinated with economical camera movements that give the film a voyeuristic feel. Like we are spying through a window or doorway into these people's lives. Sometimes it becomes apparent that the crisscrossing dialog rhythms are just a little too perfectly timed to be real, and sometimes it's hard to keep up with the subtitles, but it's not enough to really detract from what we are seeing.
Additionally, all the sets and backgrounds are kept filled with random sounds and colors of inner-city life. Again using careful camera placement and pans, Canijo completely captures every nuance of the film's lower class setting. In place of the standard musical score, is the constant presence of environmental sounds like blaring televisions and yelling neighbors in the background.
This thorough approach means that by the time the plot finally gets going, we know in great detail the lives of each of these characters. What they mean to each other, who's been lying to who, and who has secrets to hide; and that makes the later events even more compelling to watch. The actual story here does get a bit sordid, and the central conflicts flirt dangerously into soap opera territory, but Canijo and his actors are able to keep it all under control.
Though the entire cast is solid, the most remarkable performance is from Rita Blanco, who plays the matriarch and the glue of the family, Márcia. A café cook who singlehandedly raised her two (now adult) children, perpetual screw up João Carlos (Rafael Morais), and promising nursing student Cláudia (Cleia Almeida). She has a fierce determination that fills the screen, and every expression on her weary face reveals so much feeling and hard earned wisdom, its fantastic to watch. Also very notable is Anabela Moreira, who appears in a brave and unforgettable role as Márcia's much younger sister Ivete, a lonely hairdresser who also lives with them.
It's an altogether deftly orchestrated statement about unconditional love and sacrifice, and the struggle for a better life in an unforgiving social environment. A genuinely powerful film presented with a carefully measured balance of raw grit and sensational melodrama. One of the year's best, and a definite contender to become Portugal's first ever Oscar nominee.
Portuguese director João Canijo's eighth feature, is an intimate portrait of a tight knit family living in Padre Cruz, a poor neighborhood just outside Lisbon, in which he perfectly stirs together the kitchen sink sensibilities of Mike Leigh; the overlapping ensembles of Robert Altman, the sprawling streetwise narrative of HBO's The Wire; and a sharp dosage of telenovela inspired flair for added spice.
The result is an impressively crafted film that's complicated without being confusing, meticulously choreographed without being theatrical, and emotionally and dramatically engaging without cheap tricks. It's a story about the things people do for love; and as the title evokes, especially one's own family.
Canijo takes his time to very carefully introduce and establish each of the main characters and their relationships with one another in a series of extended takes. It's all done without obvious exposition, but through small clues in the natural dialog and the physical body language of the actors. I've read that the director spent two years preparing his cast for filming and it shows. Even the smallest interactions between any two characters are full of subtext, detail, and history, that we can read beyond the words that are spoken; and all of these scenes are impeccably acted, in a completely natural way that makes the scripted seem spontaneous.
Instead of using cuts, he has a fondness for shooting multiple conversations happening at once. Sometimes they are in the same room, sometimes not, and all these split scenes are expertly framed and coordinated with economical camera movements that give the film a voyeuristic feel. Like we are spying through a window or doorway into these people's lives. Sometimes it becomes apparent that the crisscrossing dialog rhythms are just a little too perfectly timed to be real, and sometimes it's hard to keep up with the subtitles, but it's not enough to really detract from what we are seeing.
Additionally, all the sets and backgrounds are kept filled with random sounds and colors of inner-city life. Again using careful camera placement and pans, Canijo completely captures every nuance of the film's lower class setting. In place of the standard musical score, is the constant presence of environmental sounds like blaring televisions and yelling neighbors in the background.
This thorough approach means that by the time the plot finally gets going, we know in great detail the lives of each of these characters. What they mean to each other, who's been lying to who, and who has secrets to hide; and that makes the later events even more compelling to watch. The actual story here does get a bit sordid, and the central conflicts flirt dangerously into soap opera territory, but Canijo and his actors are able to keep it all under control.
Though the entire cast is solid, the most remarkable performance is from Rita Blanco, who plays the matriarch and the glue of the family, Márcia. A café cook who singlehandedly raised her two (now adult) children, perpetual screw up João Carlos (Rafael Morais), and promising nursing student Cláudia (Cleia Almeida). She has a fierce determination that fills the screen, and every expression on her weary face reveals so much feeling and hard earned wisdom, its fantastic to watch. Also very notable is Anabela Moreira, who appears in a brave and unforgettable role as Márcia's much younger sister Ivete, a lonely hairdresser who also lives with them.
It's an altogether deftly orchestrated statement about unconditional love and sacrifice, and the struggle for a better life in an unforgiving social environment. A genuinely powerful film presented with a carefully measured balance of raw grit and sensational melodrama. One of the year's best, and a definite contender to become Portugal's first ever Oscar nominee.
— Bonjour Tristesse
1 comment:
Oooh I'm excited. It sounds like something that invests your emotions for you, and even if that just barely happens it'll be fun.
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