Modern-day indentured servitude, inbreeding, the destruction of the environment, anti-indigenous policies, drug running, racism, magical realism: there are a whole lot of elements stuffed into Fogaréu, director-writer Flávia Neves’ debut feature about a woman returning to the central Brazilian city of Goiás to claim her birthright. Neves tries hard to balance heavy lashings of Gothic atmosphere with social outrage and turgid family drama, but with magical realism she tips the cart over, piling on far more than the plot can sustain. Intriguing enough to hold attention but too convoluted to withstand criticism, the film is helped enormously by the warm stabilizing aura of lead Bárbara Colen (Bacurau) whose “normalizing” presence gives it a much-needed solid foundation. The film’s third-place win in the Berlinale’s Panorama Audience Awards speaks to general interest in its hothouse handling of hot-button topics, making it potentially attractive for programmers looking for South American fare.
Fogaréu is the traditional Holy Week procession in which “farricocos,” men dressed in hooded robes similar to medieval European confraternity penitents, walk through the streets with torches, their aspect now unfortunately recalling KKK marches and generating similar feelings of revulsion in non-local spectators. Neves opens with this ritual unique (in Brazil) to Goiás, using the phantasmagoric gathering to instill a sense of unease in the viewer, but then it’s never referred to again. Fernanda (Colen) arrives that evening, turning up at the home of her uncle Antônio Menezes (Eucir de Souza), the town mayor.
Fernanda has a complicated history: her foster mother was Antônio’s late sister, a free-spirited lesbian ostracized by the family. After a decade or more away, Fernanda returns to learn what part of the Menezes’ vast ranch holdings belongs to her inheritance, but while she’s greeted with superficial warmth, there’s a cold and angry tension brewing underneath. She’s also disconcerted by the unusual number of developmentally disabled women working as servants, referred to collectively as “Fools.” In Antônio’s house, there’s “Mocinha,” the Portuguese equivalent of “Missy” (Nena Inoue) and Joana (Vilminha Chaves), women paternalistically spoken of as part of the family but in truth they’re chattel “gifted” to newlyweds.
Antônio tolerates his niece’s presence only for a short time, warning her not to get involved with the indigenous Xavante population whose chief Cacique (Typi Biri in the end credits, though elsewhere credited as Typyire Ãwa) is fighting to claim the tribe’s traditional land and stop the destruction of the forest. Firm yet nonaggressive, Fernanda is not the type to back off, though she’s got a lot of investigating to do, encompassing family papers, the origins of the “Fools,” assaults against the Xavante, cocaine pay-offs and to top it all, questions about her biological parents and their real relationship to the demonstrably whiter Menezes family.
Added to the mix is the unexplained presence of Ezequiel (Timothy Wilson), a solitary prophet who first appears to be like the “Fools” but has divining powers which ultimately help Fernanda in her greatest moment of need. Ezequiel’s inclusion is a narrational clunker, maladroitly grafted on to get Neves and fellow writer Melanie Dimantas out of plot difficulties. Given how the script toys with certain resemblances to telenovelas, directly referenced, the character presumably is also meant to explode traditional soap opera tropes, but by that point it feels like an ill-conceived artificial device that takes agency away from real forces of justice and places it in the realm of the supernatural.
The always welcome presence of Bárbara Colen goes a long way towards holding Fogaréu steady, her projection of grounded intelligence acting like an anchor when everything else spins off into Gothic directions. Another plus is stage actress Nena Inoue, who saves her role from melodrama when she finds pathos in “Mocinha” reclaiming her true name and identity as Luzia. Cinematographer Luciana Basseggio is joined by the more established Glauco Firpo (Hard Paint; Don’t Swallow My Heart, Alligator Girl!), and the visuals play on the dark tensions, moodily lit interiors and nighttime colonial streets contrasting with the bright openness of indigenous lands.
Director: Flávia Neves
Screenplay: Flávia Neves, Melanie Dimantas
Cast: Bárbara Colen, Nena Inoue, Eucir de Souza, Fernanda Vianna, Vilminha Chaves, Kelly Crifer, Timothy Wilson, Fernanda Pimenta, Allan Jacinto Santana, Typi Biri, Márcio Mariante, Pamela Germano, Samantha Maneschi, Cassia Arraes, Vitor Duarte, Bianca Terraza, Laizia de Jesus.
Producers: Vania Catani, Gabrielle Auad, Mayra Faour Auad
Executive producers: Tarcila Jacob, Elaine Azevedo e Silva
Co-producers: Nathalie Mesuret, Thomas Sparfel, Danilo Kamenach
Cinematography: Luciana Basseggio, Glauco Firpo
Production design: Diogo Balbino
Costume design: Masta Ariane
Editing: Will Domingos, Waldir Xavier
Sound: Olivia Hernández, Waldir Xavier
Production companies: Bananeira Filmes (Brazil), MyMama Entertainment (Brazil), Blue Monday Produtions (Brazil), Caliandra Filmes (Brazil), Kam Filmes (Brazil), Canal Brasil (Brazil), Clandestino (Brazil), in association with Filmes do Bem, Tao Luz e Movimento.
World sales: MPM Premium
Venue: Berlinale (Panorama)
In Portuguese
100 minutes
