BOI DE CONCHAS (THE SHELL COVERED OX)
Brazilian director Daniel Barosa’s dystopian, near-future portrait of the Alpha generation and the hurdles they (will) have to endure is an accurate, inspired and terrifying horror-infused project. Demonstrating incredible potential and sustentable material enough to turn this into a fascinating feature-length, Baroso displays inumerous cinematic skills within his short film, proving he’s ready to take on higher flights. Just to name a few, the mysterious and luscious blend of colors and lights, the mind-bending editing, which interconnects the youngsters’ universe of text messages, anxiety, exclusion, self-discovery, gatherings and gossiping, financial obstacles, as well as mystic fables involving teens mysteriously turning into cows. And the director shows total confidence with such generational study. The music also is very powerful and key to the narrative, as the protagonist, Rayane, is constantly avoiding reality through her headphones. But despite sounding gruesome, this is actually a poignant, sensitive and deeply observed coming of age story about a girl mourning her missing sister while facing challenges with her parents, friends, society and the imminent sense of danger, a result of the unknown circumstances surrounding the disappearances. As many of the teens in her Sao Paulo’s community have been missing, cows start to show up in the beach area and in their backyards. They believe they are loved ones who’d returned as the harmless animals. Things gradually get worse, as our heroine walks down the empty, abandoned streets toward a music festival that seems to lack audience as a reflection of the crisis. Barosa also creates a fascinating, immersive Gothic atmosphere, punctuating the entire film: since its opening sequence as Rayane is seen sleepwalking the nights while developing a strangely familiar connection to the wandering cows. Actress Bebé Salvego is utterly convincing, and has a magnetic force towards the viewer. The result is a brilliant modern representation of Brazilian folklore, urban drama and futuristic horror. Plus, it announces Barosa as an emerging Latin American auteur.
DONA BEATRIZ ÑSÎMBA VITA
A compulsively dynamic professional of drawing and animation cinema, writer-director Catapreta exercizes his talents with this historically-inspired hallucinating, visually-stunning and bloody contemporary translating on the tragic story of Kimpa Vita, a 17th-century Congolese religious leader. Those going in for the fun will have a blast as much as those familiar with the metaphors and the real story behind its inspiration. To start with, the film feels like a deadpan comedy, no music, only the subtle and key sounds of the tall, naked African prophet figure walking around and collecting small versions of herself, a reflection of her kingdom and people. It is colorful, morbidly vibrant and aggressively generous in its depiction of the unexpected gruesome turn: the landscape seems to be devastated, sort of a post-Apocalyptic world, where one eats the other, literally. The queen blends in her favorite drink which causes competition: there are shakes and baked cookies made all of her chopped body parts mixed the little creatures she maintains captive. Everything works fine as a narrative conception and the use of colors are inventive and delightful, perfectly drawn and cut. Dona Beatriz was a religious leader who believed Jesus was ancient from the Kongo Empire, stirring up controversy with Catholic Church traditions and other Christian movements. She is known to be a front-veteran figure who anticipated antislavery and the foundations of democracy. Tapping on urgent and controversial material and racism, making a bridge between past and contemporary religious, societal and political values, Catapreta crafts an intensely vivid and amusingly bizarre animated-short that breathes authenticity and points to the future of indie animation. Bravo!
(The 2024 Sundance Film Festival runs thru January 28. Films are also available to view online. Go to https://festival.sundance.org/ for details.)
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