Movies - I'm Still Here

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Movies - I’m Still Here

Movies - I’m Still Here

A woman married to a former politician during the military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.

Memory as Resistance

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14961016/reviews/?featured=rw10122600

“I’m Still Here” goes beyond being just another film about the military dictatorship, offering a human, intense, and brutally intimate portrait of a family unraveling under overwhelming, uncontrollable forces. Walter Salles (the director of the movie), with his raw style and unmatched sensitivity, returns to the theme of a country immersed in repression, but rather than focusing on big political events, he zeroes in on their consequences within homes and personal lives. By centering the story on family drama, Salles subverts the expectation of a traditional historical film, avoiding documentary tones or a broad, structural focus. Here, 1970s Brazil is felt through the struggles of the Paiva family, and in the painful details of their shared wounds, Salles portrays the scars left by a dictatorship that, while distorted in collective memory, remains alive in the lives it shattered.

Choosing to center the narrative through Eunice’s perspective-played by the iconic Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro-lends the film an undeniable authenticity. While dealing with the loss of her husband, Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello), a public figure and defender of the people’s rights, Eunice has to keep the family together and maintain her children’s emotional stability. Eunice is the pure embodiment of resilience and motherly love, and her daily routine, her rituals with her children, and moments shared as a family are slices of a once-ordinary life, now wrecked by an abrupt absence. Family dinners and memories of beach outings become painful when revisited after Rubens’ disappearance, as they reveal the empty space left by systemic violence. Salles skillfully uses this family intimacy to show how dictatorship destroys emotional bonds and disrupts each home’s peace, prompting audiences to reflect on how history is also shaped by losses and silent moments in everyday life.

Fernanda Torres’ performance is intensely deserving of praise. She embodies a woman who refuses to let grief immobilize her, balancing the protection of her children with the relentless search for answers about her husband’s whereabouts. This balance between strength and vulnerability gives Eunice a striking and essential presence in the film. In a moving and remarkably mature performance, Montenegro, as the older Eunice, intensifies the impact of Rubens’ absence, bringing a heavy, almost physical silence that resonates in those who never got the chance to say goodbye. The real-life relationship between Montenegro and Torres as mother and daughter adds authenticity to the transitions across time, making Eunice’s portrayal even more heartfelt and believable. This genuine continuity allows Salles’ film to transcend mere fiction and reach a depth that only a personal story can achieve.

Technically, the film is a visual achievement that captures this family’s intimate pain through meticulously crafted cinematography. The use of confined spaces and close-up shots reveals the characters’ physical and psychological confinement, mirroring the oppression that hangs over their lives. The soundtrack follows the most emotional scenes with an almost mystical quality, blending with the characters’ feelings like a whisper that holds the pains of the past. Salles’ use of music is interesting, not just to intensify the drama but to evoke an almost tangible nostalgia in the air, an echo of absences that can never be overcome. This balance between aesthetics and emotion transforms the film into both a tribute to interrupted lives and a celebration of the struggle for justice and memory.

The narrative avoids an easy or simplistic conclusion, choosing instead a more contemplative view on the lasting impact of loss. The film moves forward in time, showing us the future of each family member without offering conclusive or comforting answers. What remains is the pain, an indignation turned into strength, and a refusal to let difficult moments fade into oblivion. Rubens’ absence and the commitment of Eunice and her children to preserving his memory result in a catharsis for the audience, as it’s both inspiring and deeply moving to see how they, even amid so much pain, resist the urge to let Rubens’ legacy be erased-and the film’s goal to evoke tears was masterfully achieved, at least for me.

Overall, “I’m Still Here” is one of those rare historical films that, instead of adopting a documentary or openly critical stance, takes a humanistic approach that resonates with our deepest emotions and values. Salles proves his mastery as a filmmaker by crafting a story that is, at once, infuriating and inspiring-a work that reminds us of the importance of keeping the memories and voices of the wronged alive. Through a captivating narrative and an extraordinary cast, he turns the story of a Brazilian family into a universal reminder of human dignity and the importance of memory as a form of resistance.

Is it ’that good?’ The answer is a resounding ‘yes’

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14961016/reviews/?featured=rw10119953

Adapted from the novel by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, “I’m Still Here” actually improves on the book by focusing on the Paiva family and how every member was startled and heartbroken by the disappearance of their father (played with deep affection by Selton Mello). Anchored by a powerhouse performance by Fernanda Torres as the matriarch Eunice, the film narrates the horrors of the Brazilian dictatorship without ever being preachy or heavy-handed. By focusing on the human aspects and the sense of loss of those people who never got and answer about their loved one’s disappearance, the script gets more powerful as it goes along. All the performances from the young actors are top-notch - a rare feat in Brazilian cinema - but it is Fernanda Torres incredibly restrained performance that really stays with you. She’s persuasive and moving without ever being melodramatic, in a masterful work. This is the best Brazilian film in years, a gift from director Walter Salles (“Central Station”). Pay attention to the brief but powerful cameo by Fernanda Montenegro (an Oscar nominee for “Central Station”) at the very end. “I’m Still Here” is a movie to cherish and to hold.

An essencial work, balancing emotion and reflection

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14961016/reviews/?featured=rw10115676

Brazilian film with the greatest international repercussion in recent years, winner of the best screenplay award at the Venice Film Festival and nominated for an Oscar, I’m Still Here dramatizes the trajectory of the Paiva family between the arrest of Rubens Paiva, the father, and Eunice’s struggle after her husband’s disappearance. Walter Salles immerses the viewer in the intimacy of this family and makes them an accomplice, making them care about the fate of each one, creating three-dimensional, real, believable characters. Fernanda Torres plays the role of her life, almost a Greek heroine marked by tragedy, with subtlety, without ever falling into excess or caricature. Detailed scenography, lean script, natural interpretations, hand-picked soundtrack, precise editing, everything contributes to the director being able to convey exactly what he set out to do. As I knew the story, I had read the book on which the film is based, in addition to reports about it, my attention focused on the cinematographic solutions used by the director. He manages to turn this particular story into something universal, capable of communicating with audiences anywhere in the world.

I’m still here is spectacular

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14961016/reviews/?featured=rw10152308

I’m Still Here is a very special film. It has a story that makes the viewer very interested in seeing how it unfolds. However, what this film has the best quality for is the Fernanda Torres’ performance is moving, captivating, one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. It’s truly surreal how talented she is, just like her mother. Furthermore, the film is directed by Walter Salles who had already worked on the excellent film Central Station, with Fernanda Montenegro, in this film he shows himself to be very competent. He is a very talented guy in what he does. Overall, I’m Still Here is the best foreign film of the year, a beautiful movie.

The story of a family, the story of a country…

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14961016/reviews/?featured=rw10118377

A woman married to a former politician during the military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.

Memory as Resistance

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14961016/reviews/?featured=rw10122600

“I’m Still Here” goes beyond being just another film about the military dictatorship, offering a human, intense, and brutally intimate portrait of a family unraveling under overwhelming, uncontrollable forces. Walter Salles, with his raw style and unmatched sensitivity, returns to the theme of a country immersed in repression, but rather than focusing on big political events, he zeroes in on their consequences within homes and personal lives. By centering the story on family drama, Salles subverts the expectation of a traditional historical film, avoiding documentary tones or a broad, structural focus. Here, 1970s Brazil is felt through the struggles of the Paiva family, and in the painful details of their shared wounds, Salles portrays the scars left by a dictatorship that, while distorted in collective memory, remains alive in the lives it shattered.

“I’m Still Here” is a powerful portrayal of a moment in Brazilian history that traumatized many people. In a well-constructed atmosphere, the viewer enters the past of a country, a past that is disowned and ignored by the country itself, and this makes the experience of watching “I’m Still Here” in a movie theater in Brazil even more powerful. Of all the Brazilian filmmakers, Walter Salles stands out with his talented direction and interesting photography, and the production is truly impressive. The actors are talented and I want to highlight the younger actors, who certainly give the film a touch of depth and beauty necessary for us to feel the “magic of cinema”. Regarding the kind human side present in “I’m Still Here”, it is wonderful to see a film by a filmmaker who truly understands cinema, who does not present alienated ideas but rather pure and genuine human expression. As a Brazilian, of course, I will be rooting for Walter Salles’ work to be nominated for an Oscar, but I think the goal of making national cinema talked about again has already been achieved. Beautiful film, beautiful message and beautiful performances.

Another reddit review

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1ip0usd/official_discussion_im_still_here_spoilers/

Let me start by saying that Fernanda Torres’ acting should become a benchmark for internalized performances. What she’s doing here is bonkers from a technical perspective and grounded in the sort of skill and intelligence that can only come with a lifetime of dedication to the craft. By far, this is the best single piece of acting I’ve seen all year. She is hands down the most deserving contender for this year’s Best Actress Oscar, and it will be a travesty if she doesn’t win, (I have a feeling she will, though. The impact of her delivery is just too overwhelming to be passed on.)

Movie-wise, I knew it was a real story going in and I knew the outcome, but nothing could prepare me for the naturalistic approach that keeps the story grounded and relatable even when the script swiftly covers some mandatory biopic tropes. That includes a couple of time jumps that some viewers are complaining about, yet worked wonderfully to me.

Here’s the thing: there are two epilogues (so to speak), the first taking place in 1996 and the other in 2014. Yet, the way I see it, this is not a “Lord of the Rings” situation. Those sequences are ultimately essential to further the movie’s main theme, which is the preservation of memory through documentation - either as a proof that we were once here, either as an undeniable record of a dark past that politicians everywhere often attempt to rewrite for their own purposes.

In 1996, we see only the two youngest children, who were more shielded than the oldest siblings from what was going on with their family back in the 70s, and the ‘closure’ comes with the printout of their father’s death certificate. Like the collection of super 8 home movies and pictures and newspaper articles, this piece of paper has a greater meaning; it ties their intimate stories to capital-H History.

In 2014, when the government finally admitted its role in their father’s death, the mother’s memory had basically deteriorated after years dealing with Alzheimer’s. The final shot is important to show us the expanded family and the legacy and values and faith in life that was passed on through its generations – but a nice touch here is how the daughters attempt and fail to recreate their mother’s famous soufflé.

It’s not that the matriarch failed to document - as in to write down - the recipe per se: the way I see it, this is a testament to little things that belong to us, and us only. We’ll take them with us when we’re gone. Like when someone says “no one could ever make a soufflé as good as mom’s”, and you have your own memories of the taste and texture that your own children won’t get to experience. This becomes a bittersweet memory that you’ll cherish even more because, even though it’s bound to be lost in time, it’s unique to our families.

Throughout the film, director Walter Salles gives a lot of emphasis to certain objects that are reflective of an era and a way of life – the vynil records, the Coke bottles used as tanner -, and also to objects that are filled with emotional significance – the mother’s coat, the daughter’s baby tooth, etc. The importance of any given object is up to the personal memories we project in them. They become mementos of our existence and triggers for remembering. Subtly, they all add up to the gut punch that the movie delivers with a featherweight touch. For such a sad story, I’m Still Here is surprisingly uplifting in a way.