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If a particularly enterprising Portuguese amateur theater group took it upon themselves to stage Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” only to freshen things up by making it a black-box musical, the result wouldn’t be a million miles from “Technoboss,” the latest from cultivated oddball auteur João Nicolau. Anyone who takes that statement as a compliment, then, is squarely in the demographic for this traveling-marketer road movie: very much a mileage-may-vary proposition, even as the protagonist’s own odometer ticks languidly along. Others may find Nicolau’s blend of doleful deadpan, perky showmanship and existential panic — call it Carpool Karaoke as hosted by Larry David and Aki Kaurismaki — too preciously absurd to stomach.

Either way, at 112 minutes, “Technoboss” is probably too much of a weird thing. — which began with a surprising slot in Locarno’s main competition. Less brazen programmers may find room for it in more experimental,...

João Nicolau’s latest film stars first-timer Miguel Lobo Antunes, in a comic, refreshing study of ageing (and life). After coming-of-age drama John From, where João Nicolau explored the dreams, hopes and issues of teenagers in the outskirts of Lisbon, the director now presents in competition at the Locarno Film Festival a glimpse of the other side of the spectrum of life. Technoboss portrays the life — with all its (mis)adventures — of Luís Rovisco (Miguel Lobo Antunes): a divorced but still vibrant old man who lives with his cat Napoleon and wants to retire from his job at SegurVale, a company of Integrated Systems of Access Control. A seemingly boring job that not only demands a constant technical update, but which also asks for the almost constant presence of its employees on the road. It is there, on the road, that everything (or nothing) starts, that everything (or nothing) happens.

Founded in 1998, O Som e a Furia is one of Portugal’s leading production companies, and has produced works by Portuguese auteurs such as Miguel Gomes, Ivo Ferreira, Sandro Aguilar, and João Nicolau.

Owned by Luís Urbano and Sandro Aguilar, the company has developed a clear editorial line dedicated to Portuguese and foreign auteurs who develop films with crossover potential that can succeed on the international festival circuit.

Over the past two decades the company has worked with a consistent group of directors and has developed a network of regular co-production partners, in particular in France, Germany, Brazil and Switzerland.

Urbano says that one of his key contributions is at a curatorial level: “We aim to work with directors who have a distinctive point of view and to evolve with them over their careers. In the case of a new director, I can help them create a distinctive mark.”

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