Doña Clara

Greetings again from the darkness. If you were an avid movie-goer in the 1970's, you likely fell in love with Sonia Braga while watching Dona and Her Two Husbands (1976) and Kiss of the Spider Woman (1978). Those movies catapulted the Brazilian actress to global stardom, and a long career limited only by some regrettable script choices.

Writer/director Kleber Mendonca Filbo wisely casts Ms. Braga in the lead of his latest, and she delivers what may be her best performance ever … and certainly one of the best by any actress this year. Clara is the lone holdout in a beachfront apartment complex against a corporate developer intent on modernizing the old building in order to maximize profits.

The film is divided into three parts: "Clara's Hair", "Clara's Love", and "Clara's Cancer". The initial segment is set in 1980 when Clara is recovering from cancer treatment and is attending the 70th birthday party for her beloved Aunt Lucia (Thaia Perez). Lucia's flashbacks to her younger days bring a subtle smile to her face, while providing parallels to what we see later with Clara. Some secrets from family are treasured memories, not meant to be shared. As the story moves forward, we grow to admire and respect Clara and join in her defiance of the smirky hotshot developer.

The big company bullying the old lady would be an interesting and predictable story, but here it's secondary to the story of a strong woman – a woman who overcomes cancer, carries on after the death of her husband, fights to keep her home, and generally lives life on her own terms. She maintains her strength and dignity despite outside influences.

A recurring theme throughout is "old vs. new". From the first sequence with the "old" Aunt passing the baton to her younger niece, to the old lady battling the young developer in order to prevent the historic building from being turned into a modern co-op, to the contrast of the vinyl records of Clara's collection to the digital music of the younger generation, to Clara's preference for actual phone calls to texting. It's the classic now versus then argument, and it's summed up by Clara's line to her kids: "When you like it, it's vintage. When you don't, it's old." There are some similarities to Sebastian Lelo's 2013 film Gloria, which featured an exceptional performance from Paulina Garcia, and this one utilizes some terrific "little" scenes … conversations with family and daily life with her housekeeper – all while staying close to a glass of wine, her favorite music, a cozy hammock, and her Barry Lyndon poster. While the ending is a bit disappointing, and Brazilian politics prevented it from being that country's Oscar submission, those don't negatively impact the strength of Sonia Braga's Oscar worthy performance as we rejoice in the strength of an independent woman.

Brazilian film critic turned filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho's second feature AQUARIUM, after his well-acclaimed debut NEIGHBORING SOUNDS (2012), has already received Cannes main competition treatment, which could be boosted by the consequential involvement of one of Brazilian cinema's living legends, Sonia Braga, who dauntlessly takes its central role of Clara, a retired music critic and refuses to move out of the film's titular building in Recife even if she is the only resident remains.

The film's vintage prologue takes us back to 1980, we are first introduced to a young Clara (Coleen), celebrates both her victory over cancer (later a briefing scene will inform us it is breast cancer) and her aunt's (a sprightly silver-haired Perez) 70th birthday, who reminisces of her wild youth (a carnal liberation in particular) when she clocks to an inconspicuous cabinet, which will become a mnemonic to trigger Clara down to her own memory lane 35 years later.

In the present time, Clara has outlived her husband for 17 years (life has its unpredictable quirks, who could image a seemingly healthier husband would be gone so soon) and now lives alone, she takes the leisurely pace to continue her daily life, as an independent, mature and loving woman: schmoozing with the lifeguard (Santos) on the beach where she routinely swims; enjoying a dancing night with her girlfriends and having no qualms to engage in a spur-of-the-moment making-out with a widower, who politely recedes to decency when he is aware of her physical condition (how shallow a man could be?). And obviously she has become much closer to her nephew Tomas (Queiroz) than her three adult offspring (a married son, a divorced daughter and a gay son), especially her relationship with her daughter Ana Paula (Jinkings) is strained, because of the status quo: the Aquarius building, erected in the 40s, is acquired by a construction company for a complete reconstruction except for Clara's apartment, and Ana Paula doesn't understand the reason why Clare won't sell it.

So what is the reason? Clare cannot be bought off by money because as she claims that she has 5 apartments under her name, therefore she has no financial exigency to exchange her favorite property into cash, which marks her a different case from the usual hungry-for-pecuniary-gain mass. Aquarius adumbrates her fondness, nostalgia and affections of her long winded past, all the happenings (like the B-day party in the prologue) comprising her entire life, in her sense, they live and die with the building itself. There is no denying it is a somewhat selfish reason to sabotage a project might be beneficial to assuage the local housing problem. But Mendonça Filho is trenchant and adamant to exercise the disproof, a final startling revelation will jolt Clara into the self- righteous action of hauling the evidence right in front of these corporate crooks. This is a tub- thumping censure to a society festered with sleaze and corruption, and utterly relatable in most corners of our world.

What hits the unusual mark of extraordinary is the filmmakers' impeccable tact and devotion of playing out an unbiased portrait of a woman of certain age who, more often than not isn't even be considered to assume the cynosure of a movie, and Mendonça Filho welcomes her with the full treatment including the often dismissed libidinous department, when you find out there is a raucous orgy organized in the empty apartment above yours, what is the best rebuttal other than calling an escort to quench that aroused thirst?

It goes without saying Ms. Braga's towering performance is of tectonic import to the success of the film, so much composedly immersed herself in the character, she takes Clara's prosaic daily life in stride, and not for one second, slackens her dignified defiance or renders it patronizing or haughty (which would very likely occur in lesser hands), she holds court whether there is a tacit awkwardness in her bungled sex-in-the-car diversion, or a whiff of disappointment toward her self- serving daughter, not to mention when she lets rip with a tirade in front of Diego (a smugly educated Carrão, admirably fending off Braga's all-out verbal offensive), the young representative of the company, that sequence alone can give 2016 Best Actress hopefuls a run for their money!

AQUARIUS is ultimately a rapier-like social critique welded with an endearingly patient character study, manufactured with deliberation, consideration and integrity, a transcendent sophomore piece presages an auteur in the making. On a less rigorous note, it is a cautionary tale exhorting us not to mess with a refusenik who has a hammock in her apartment, which means that she has both strength and means to stick it to the end.

I did not react to Aquarius session end, I left the movie anaesthetized, not knowing what to think. Complex films like this do not involve value judgments. As the scenes were sat in memory (pictures, lines, track, details), things became more Clear. Clara (Clear, in Portuguese), by the way, is the name of the character of Sonia Braga, an old woman, a retired music critic, who decides to fight against a conglomerate of construction, preventing the building is demolished. With this wisp of plot, the young and talented director Kleber Mendonça, speaks of memory, time, social, loss, resistance, prejudice, ethics, preservation ... It's such a rich work that would need to be watched more times for an accurate and faithful analysis. There are moments of delicacy that made me breath away. The first part of the film, Clara's hair is bright. Unable to hold back tears. Aquarius is authorial film, which does not follow formulas, is not related to cinematographic conventions, is not entertainment. It was done to annoy, make the viewer to think and question. Do not expect the impact of City of God, or the catharsis of Central Station, Aquarius has another footprint.

First of all I'd like to apologize myself due any English mistakes.

I didn't understand those bad reviews that I just read here. In fact the movie is simple, with a simple a story but very emotional. Here in Brazil we face racism and a social fight which is pointed out in the movie.

The actors are good and Sônia Braga spectacular. I could see this movie more ten times and I am sure that I would always have something to learn.

I'm giving you this review without political issues, I am just a cinema lover. Do not miss the opportunity to see how prejudice and racism are frequent around the world. Also you're gonna experiment a time travel throughout the memories!

Aquarius is an interesting film, which has a good photography and a beautiful soundtrack, besides a compelling performance of the cast. Sonia Braga is great, playing a mature woman who stands for her rights and opinions. The story is shot in Recife and slowly presents the almost silent tug of war between Clara (Sonia) and the construction company. They want Clara sells them her apartment - the last one to be sold in the whole building - for the construction of a new property. The development of the characters is good, Kleber Mendonça Filho finds the correct pace for telling us Clara's story, so we can see why is so important to her to stay living in that place. In the other side, we have enough clues of how bad the other people fight against Clara, because there's real money and other interests involved. Although I think it worths watching, I recognize it is not a film for everyone; maybe some details only can be truly understood for people who has spent some time living in Brazil. I refer to the almost invisible social war between wealthy and poor people, represented in many subtle dialogues, gestures, and eye contact among characters. That's why I don't give 10, as a warning for non-Brazilian spectators.