Review
Film: Girimunho
Directors: Clarissa Campolina, Helvécio Marins Jr
Country: Brazil
Girimunho is a beautiful and gentle portrait of an old woman as she
adapts to the loss of her husband. It's shot documentary style with
natural and mesmeric performances, especially from the central
character played by Maria Sebastiana Martins Alvaro. It is gorgeously shot, with the story feeling like it is
climbing out of the stunning Brazilian scenery. The way it is
filmed makes the characters and story feel really organically interwoven
with the scenery, so that the scenery is almost a character itself and
that the characters are part of their surround and gives a dreamlike
sense of the Brazilian town in which it is set. There is also a
wonderfully evocative sense of time passing but also perhaps a culture
being lost.
The grandmother fills her world
with narrative songs and words of wisdom bringing a sense of how she
embodies her town's soul and culture. The soundtrack is incredible. She
cannot help but have an increasingly important influence on the choices
of her grandchildren, pushing them onto their own paths.
Even
though her late husband does not really appear, the film also gives a
real sense of a life long relationship that it is hard to let go of, and we see her gradually come to terms with her loss, with defiance and
sadness.
This film's glacial place means it won't be for everyone, but I was completely engrossed and moved.
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