The Domain

Portuguese quality in its best. Great actors and plot.

This movie has great setting, amazing photography, production value, and a few good ideas. It also has the insight of not trying to provide too much historical context. Even if you are not Portuguese (which I am) you can easily follow the tropes of dictatorship-to-democracy transition, class relations-struggles, and the typical "protective" macho pose of the main character. The problem is that, despite an interesting premise and loads of potential, there is not much in between, and the plot seems to think its more sophisticated than it is. Everything that seems to matter to the family story is obvious (things that are important, but accessory to this- like political and economical issues- are not), and the viewer is treated as though it isn't, as if there is much explaining to do. Some great movies also have obvious plots, but the craft makes you almost forget about that, which is unfortunately not the case here. This is also because the characters are not as complex as the filmmakers seem to think they are, and the family relations, again, are unsurprising, verging on caricature. The fact that, for some reason, lighting cigarettes/smoking, pouring drinks and looking broodingly into the horizon seem to have been the major acting directions to create all sorts of different tensions does not help (although the lighting is great). You can use those crutches a few times, but when its done all the time it doesn't work. I do not mind excruciatingly slow or long movies, but there is no reason for this film to be either of those things, it might actually benefit from a re-edit.

The only good thing about the movie was the photography - great landscapes beautifully filmed. Terrible plot, terrible dialogues. Actors would stop in the middle of a sentence (probably trying to remember what comes next) and they just left it like that, instead of repeating the scene. The topic of the movie could be interesting but it was poorly developed. Smoking all the time, it was ridiculous.

In a country where there is little investment in culture, it is really amazing to see such an amazing portuguese work.

The actrors are impressive, the camera work brilliant and the photography stunning.

There are a lot of smart details that might not be obvious for the mainstream viewer but that I absolutely loved, like the motif of the horse (which decline reflects the familiy one) and that the moonlight in the night sequences always lights the person in power within the scene.

The only downside in my view is that if the viewer is not portuguese, it can have more difficulty understanding the historical context. However, this movie also deals with timeless issues like family, love, freedom and power.

So well said and exactly what I felt to this movie by jramalho on 8 October 2019, I don't think I need to add more words:

".... This is also because the characters are not as complex as the filmmakers seem to think they are, and the family relations, again, are unsurprising, verging on caricature. The fact that, for some reason, lighting cigarettes/smoking, pouring drinks and looking broodingly into the horizon seem to have been the major acting directions to create all sorts of different tensions does not help (although the lighting is great). You can use those crutches a few times, but when its done all the time it doesn't work. I do not mind excruciatingly slow or long movies, but there is no reason for this film to be either of those things, it might actually benefit from a re-edit."

I rest my case.