Futuro Beach [Praia do Futuro] **** (2014, Wagner Moura, Clemens Schick, Jesuíta Barbosa) – Movie Review

Wagner Moura plays Brazilian coastguard Donato, who fails to rescue a drowning man, but falls for the victim’s biker friend Konrad (Clemens Schick). Motivated by the circumstances, Donato decides to begin a new life in Berlin, but pieces of his past are coming after him.

I liked and admired director Karim Aïnouz’s Futuro Beach. The guys are credible and ordinary enough to be real-looking and the story is believable and everyday commonplace too. But the imaginative, intelligent handling makes it a classy and unusual movie, with a poetic dimension, smart camerawork, lots of Brazil beach/seedy Berlin flavour and a lively soundtrack.

[Spoiler alert] I’m not sure about the ending, but I suppose the point is the story has no ending. I think I’d need to see it again.

By the way, one man walked out ostentatiously as a protest from the press screening during the second bout of love-making, blocking the screen as much as he could!

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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