João Canijo Latest Film Depicts Women In Endless Misery – Deadline

Midas movies

Joao Canijo’s latest cinema project Mal Viver celebrated its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale). The film revolves around a family of women trying to salvage their relationships and the family hotel and stars Anabela Moreir, Madalena Almeida, Cleia Almeida, Vera Barreto and Rita Blanco.

Mal Viver begins with a shot at a backyard pool with Angela (Barreto) cleaning and Piedade (Moreir) lounging by the pool when Piedade’s mother Sara (Blanco), daughter Salome (Almeida) and Raquel (Almeida) suddenly appear high. All the women exchange confused looks until Piedade and Salome hug awkwardly because they haven’t seen each other for a long time. Apparently, she didn’t know her own child was visiting, and she’s upset that nobody told her. The women sit down to dinner and chat in the hotel restaurant they run, and while it’s a lively if descriptive discussion, the two, who have previously embraced, are unengaging and mostly distant.

Salome has lost her father and is still grieving, fueling resentment against her mother for being so distant in her childhood. Piedade only wants to talk about her daughter’s inheritance, which angers Salome deeply. The duo try to bond while watching a TV show, but they end up cringe and remain silent. When they try to communicate, the conversation turns into a blame game where they constantly talk about each other. When Sara decides to sell the hotel, the women consider what the next steps in life are and whether a reconciliation between them is worthwhile.

There are a lot of people moving in a small space, and Canijo’s directing frame isolates his characters from each other, even if they are in the same room. There are shots of legs, back and arms, but only of Piedade and Salome, because the audience isn’t supposed to see them as whole people and THEY don’t see each other as whole people. These two are mired in past atrocities and refuse to talk about their issues. They practically float around the hotel like ghosts. And this hotel attracts the worst of the worst. Everyone who enters is going through something with someone, while footage of the hotel shows mothers and daughters arguing in this place, which is it about the space that creates all this isolation. It’s a cursed room with nothing but misery within its walls.

There are numerous subplots within the overall narrative. People and situations come out of nowhere and then disappear with no resolution and are filled with depictions of mundane life such as women shaving their legs or cooking, making the two-hour runtime feel long and drawn out. It just doesn’t add anything to the material. Thank goodness the direction is dynamic because without it this wouldn’t be seen.

Mal viver is an apt title for this story, as each character that appears on screen is at a different level of despair, sucking the life out of everything and everyone they meet. It’s a tough watch that needs mental stamina to endure a melodrama that never finds resolution.