User reviews

In a poor community close to a slum in São Paulo, the hard worker Valter (Morat Descartes) raises his son Diogo (Lennon Campos) and his daughter Fernanda (Andressa Néri) with his wife Iara (Ana Carbatti) in the house built by his family. Valter informally works carrying frozen boxes without legal rights and studies at night aiming to be a nurse someday and have a better life. However, his life turns upside-down when Consuelo (Cláudia Mello), who is the ex-wife of his next-door neighbor Dimas (Umberto Magnani), rents her share of their house to a gang of smalltime criminals. Iara presses Valter to take an attitude against their new neighbors that bring women for parties and the loud music does not allow them to sleep. When Valter is near a breakdown, the gang is forced to leave the house. But Consuelo will rent the house to new tenants.

"Os Inquilinos" is an original movie that shows the life of poor honest people that has to live with criminals in their communities. Sergio Bianchi presents an ironic and acid exposition of this social problem that seems to be unresolved without an attitude of the governments. The poor Valter is near to a nervous breakdown with the problems created by his new neighbors while he is exploited by his boss and tries to improve his life through the studies. Further, he has bonds with his house, which was built with the work of his parents and therefore is of a great importance for him. The conclusion is cruel and it is impossible not feel sorry for the family. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Os Inquilinos" ("The Tenants")

A dramatic thriller that really keeps its viewers on the edge of the seat and also makes them reflect about the people who live next door, "Os Inquilinos" ("The Tenants") is probably the easiest film of Sérgio Bianchi's career, which always includes a heightened complexity and a load of social/political criticisms related to the reality of Brazilian people ("A Causa Secreta", "Cronicamente Inviável", "Romance"). This one has plenty of those issues, but it feels more focused on the hard drama of everything without finger pointing to the bigger yet underlined problematic faced by the community shown in the story. There are questions, as usual, but this time it feels like Mr. Bianchi has answered them all (or close to it).

We follow the couple Valter and Iara (Marat Descartes and Ana Carbatti) living in a poor community on the outskirts of São Paulo, raising their kids and leading an honest life. She's a housewife, he carries loads on a market and studies at night. The apparent peace at home is disturbed with the arrival of new tenants on the next door neighbor, a poor senior citizen (Umberto Magnani) who clings at that house of which his ex-wife might want it back. The tenants are loud, unfriendly, unpolite and of violent manners, and each new arrival or new party, disturbance comes to break the family's peace, and slowly a sense of danger seem to approach everyone around the neighborhood, and Valter might want to take action.

The family household becomes a prison cell, and the neighborhood also another prison from the violent trio of friends who more bicker at each other than have an actual cumplicity (but there is). Valter's small escapes comes from work, of which he feels exploited and wants more rights, and at night school where the education he's getting seems to echo the problematic of violence, through the poems read by the literature teacher (Cassia Kis) which awakens the students, but it affects Valter as a hopeless reality.

Here's a story that makes us wary about the world around us, especially when it comes to the ones who lives next door, and to make us pause and question our decisions, if action could be needed or not. It dares such thoughts on viewers, even if you live without a neighbor.

Mr. Bianchi always comes with hard-hitting questions and situations revolving social clashes and the human condition while facing poverty, injustice and the dangers of such issues, but here one can sense that he might be a little off-depth, with a clean view of favelas and criminals who are too obvious and too loud with their acts, more like a cinematic kind of poverty rather than the down and dirty view, as things are. Doesn't work completely, but it doesn't remove you from the scenario and the dramatic and tense circumstances of it all.

Besides the thematic and all, "Os Inquilinos" is a triump of acting, with high caliber performances, most notably Marat Descartes as the leading man with his transformation slowly turning into something dark and mysterious; the cameo by Caio Blat as the angry student; and Sérgio Guizé playing the menacing/tough leader of the group who moved next door - you can't take his eyes off of him and the character is not made into the expected cliche, there's always some surprise with him.

Once again, Mr. Bianchi succeeds with another critical urban tale, with plenty of honesty, some dreams and nightmares, but reflecting the dire reality of a huge portion of São Paulo and its crazed routine. 10/10.