Retratos fantasma

This is an intimate memoir-documentary by Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho. Through poetry and history, Kleber renders his tender homage to cinema.

Mendonça combines scenes from his early homemade films -- shot at his mom's apartment in Recife, Brazil -- with historic footage and photographs that are absolute gems. He then takes us on a journey through the dilapidated streets of Recife's decadent downtown, which once was a happening place. As he visits the theaters where his love of cinema flourished, the director reminisces about a time when the magic of cinema happened inside these remarkable buildings.

This is a very unique film that will evoke nostalgia in film lovers, history buffs, and anthropologists alike. As a Brazilian who lived through the end of this era, my heart was touched. But the film transcends local cultural references. The universal language of cinema comes through clear and strong in this poetic exercise by a brilliant director.

First of all, I'm not a Kleber Mendonça Filho hater. I've watched his movies and even liked some of them like Aquarius and Bacurau. But boy is he overrated!

I have a theory: if you show someone one of his movies without telling them it's by him, they'll just think it's OK.

Here we see a guy talking about his life through photographs, edits, and a voiceover. He talks about Recife, his house and how things change. As another critic already pointed out here: Woah. Things change. Of course they do! But it's presented as some big artsy perspective.

Sure, he likes to criticize gentrification and real estate speculation but let's look at two follow-up scenes in the documentary about this:

First, the dog. Poor dog. "Oh, I recorded the sound of Nico for years. He was alone on weekends, that's why he was so loud." He was a dog! Of course he was going to bark and howl. Then he said, "I talked to the neighbors"-- and ok maybe my expectations were too high but I thought he was going to say something like "...and I offered to walk and play with the dog while they were out." Instead, I got this: "And they said every time it was a good sign -- it meant there weren't any robbers around while he was barking."

Then, the cats. Kleber says, "Oh, I like dogs and cats, but the cats p... me off." It looks like a cat colony. Of course feral cats will fight. But you're a rich director living next door -- what do you do to help the stray cats?

Nothing.

He put up wires and fences. And then he says he felt like he was in prison. Come on, man. What about animal rights?

There's even a sad scene of a cat walking through the wire.

Sorry to say, but if you don't link stray cats with poor animal policies, then you're part of the problem.

Anyway, rich people's perspective-spare your time.

"Ghost Portraits" masterfully captures the essence of Recife, delving into the realm of nostalgia and melancholy induced by the inevitable tide of change that the city is going through. Through the lens of an autobiographical perspective, filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho becomes a true poet, weaving a tapestry of emotions that resonate deeply. With his skill as a director, Kleber creates a narration about the transformation that cities undergo, leaving behind much history of the past. "Ghost Portraits" is a testament to Kleber's multifaceted artistry, a stunning cinematic achievement that leaves an indelible mark. Beautiful movie.

Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho once again strikes with another good joint as this being a documentary, it's concept about the nostalgia of old cinema, especially Brazilian cinema, and from an personal lens, provides a strong sense of realism and nostalgic vibe throughout the setting.

It is a beautiful movie. Using archival footages and modern footage of today's time, the direction and concepts explored were well-explored and provides some unique facts, information, and feels about old cinema and how it resonate with Filho. While not everything worked for me, I found myself continuing to enjoy more works from Filho.

Kleber Mendonça Filho strikes again with another impressive film to his resume that is already perfect with the amazing ones "O Som ao Redor" ("Neighbouring Sounds"), "Aquarius" and "Bacurau". This time, he invests on a documentary about the classic cinema palaces from downtown Recife, showing through a magnificent archive of pictures and clips during their glory days as a scenery of important cultural influence and later on the closure of such spaces becoming either evangelical churches or just empty spaces waiting to get new proprietors.

The documentary is divided in three segments and for a brief moment audiences might feel that they don't fully have a connection with each other, specially the first one where he dwell about the apartment he grew up with his mother where he started to make his first films. They connect with each other pretty well, since it revolves about memories, nostalgia and how our view of the world around us change through the optic of films and the spaces in which they are made and the spaces of which they can be seen. As evidenced by his first two features, he used many locations from his childhood and teenage years to be important parts of the stories he wanted to tell.

The film main chorus comes at the second part and that's where we are most invested because there he remembers the theaters, their importance and the countless films exhibited there and the ones he saw growing before he became a filmmaker. He visited those places not just as a film watcher but also he made several registers through the years, interviewing people who worked there - brief scenes from his very first short "Homem de Projeção" are shown where he interviewed a veteran projectionist talking about his work.

Third act was a curious one and it closes with a small fictional moment that proves many points of everything that was said about those pictures of ghosts of the title (previously it was related with ghost-like imagery he captured on camera, or the unusual and spooky way he found out his film "O Som ao Redor" was being broadcast on regular TV). It revolves on the cinemas that were turned into churches, and I just loved the way he made the comparison of different places that have a certain thing in common which are the rituals, each place has its own and cinemas in a way are a religious experience to viewers, rooted in tradition, dogmas and beliefs.

To any film lover out there "Retratos Fantasmas" is a highly special film that talks to us an intimate way about the importance of film memory and also about the memory of such cinemas since there was a dramatic change in the way we consume films and theaters had died over the decades, specially the street ones and all of what's left were the cinema chains which are quite selective in what they show because they just want to get the business done instead of being a democratic place where there's actually movies for all audiences. Nope, it's mostly blockbusters. To the director, he tells us that the decadence of the old cinemas came because the money left town, that particular region kept losing its businesses. He never mentioned about the flowing of cinema chains, this is all me, and I'm not sure if it actually happened there (it usually does) abut he gives us a glimpse of hope that one old theater still remains there and it's still a hot spot for film buffs.

And all those memories were destined to fade in time...but not all that much because Kléber made sure to register that long period of time where cinema was one of the most special places to go, to escape a little from reality or maybe it find different alternatives to it, to deal with life in a better way. As proven here, it was those places and the films he watched that made him become the great director that he is, a masterful storyteller with many relevant topics to address and great stories to tell. I'm really proud of this film, an excellent proof of what great Brazilian cinema is and can be. 10/10.