Sweeping, intimate and emotional, Salles returns to form with his first fiction feature in 12 years as a close-knit family is irreversibly impacted by the Brazilian military dictatorship in the early 1970s.
Review #2,928
Dir. Walter Salles
2024 | Brazil | Drama, History | 136min | 1.85:1 | Portuguese
NC16 (passed clean) for some nudity and drug use
Cast: Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello, Fernanda Montenegro, Valentina Herszage, Luiza Kozovski
Plot: In the early 1970s, the military dictatorship in Brazil reaches its height. The Paiva family – Rubens, Eunice, and their five children – live in a beachside house in Rio, open to all their friends. One day, Rubens is taken for questioning and does not return.
Awards: Won Golden Osella – Best Screenplay (Venice); Won 1 Oscar – Best International Feature & Nom. for 2 Oscars – Best Picture & Best Leading Actress
International Sales: Charades
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Brazilian Dictatorship; Family in Crisis; Truth & Justice
Narrative Style: Slightly Complex
Pace: Normal
Audience Type: Slightly Arthouse
Viewed: Screener (as part of Singapore Film Society Showcase)
Spoilers: No
Winner of Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival, I’m Still Here marks the return of Walter Salles, the Brazilian director who made his name with Central Station (1998) and The Motorcycle Diaries (2004). It is his first fiction feature in 12 years since the lukewarmly received Kristen Stewart road movie, On the Road (2012).
Tackling history and politics through the eyes of one family, I’m Still Here brings us back to those torrid years of the Brazilian military dictatorship.
We are in 1971, as Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres in one of the year’s best performances—hopefully, an Oscar nod after her Golden Globes win?) must bring her children together after Ruben Paiva, her husband and ex-Congressman who opposed the dictatorship, is taken away for ‘questioning’ by the authorities.
Based on a true story, the Paiva case became one of the symbols of injustice and lack of accountability at the time. Salles draws us expertly into the family drama—or more accurately, trauma—as we get acquainted with each member of the family.
“They want to question us too.”
As they enjoy birthday celebrations and gatherings, intercutting shots of police and military vehicles unsettle Eunice particularly. It is as if she knows something bad will inevitably happen, so it is this acute counterpointing sense of intimacy and intimidation that best characterises Salles’ work here.
Emotional though some might find it overwrought with its sentimentality towards the final act, I’m Still Here is sweeping with its narrative and does recall the likes of his compatriot Karim Ainouz’s overrated Invisible Life (2019) and bits of Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma (2018).
With the recent South Korean martial law scare, I’m Still Here reminds us what any progressive country can stand to lose with self-imposed military rule.
Grade: A-
Trailer:
Eternality Tan 
[…] I’m Still Here […]
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