Country: POR/GB
Technical: col/1.50:1 104m
Director: Laura Carreira
Cast: Joana Santos
Synopsis:
Life is hard for Aurora, a Portuguese immigrant worker at a Glasgow distribution warehouse. Physically comfortable, except when the weather gets cold, she is both painfully shy and yearns for human contact. She relies on her mobile phone for company, which only isolates her further. Then, two unconnected events bring about a degeneration in her morale and performance at work.
Review:
Films about emotional breakdown are bound almost to be slow, adopting like this one the stalking camera aesthetic; but shots could have been 25% shorter and brought in an 80 minute cut without losing very much at all. As it is, we are granted a five-minute eye shadow scene but learn nothing of Aurora's family background, why she is in the UK, what she looks at on her phone, why the electricity goes off for everyone when she hasn't topped up her units, how her job interview ends, etc. Similarly, since she has about two expressions, politely smiling and terrified, nor do we get inside her as a character, except to learn that she binges on junk food when depressed. That said, substantively this is an affecting cause for reflection on the socio-economic realities of today's world, encapsulated by the final scene: cosmopolitan unity in play, undercut by Aurora's awkward body language and apprehensive expression.
Country: POR/GB
Technical: col/1.50:1 104m
Director: Laura Carreira
Cast: Joana Santos
Synopsis:
Life is hard for Aurora, a Portuguese immigrant worker at a Glasgow distribution warehouse. Physically comfortable, except when the weather gets cold, she is both painfully shy and yearns for human contact. She relies on her mobile phone for company, which only isolates her further. Then, two unconnected events bring about a degeneration in her morale and performance at work.
Review:
Films about emotional breakdown are bound almost to be slow, adopting like this one the stalking camera aesthetic; but shots could have been 25% shorter and brought in an 80 minute cut without losing very much at all. As it is, we are granted a five-minute eye shadow scene but learn nothing of Aurora's family background, why she is in the UK, what she looks at on her phone, why the electricity goes off for everyone when she hasn't topped up her units, how her job interview ends, etc. Similarly, since she has about two expressions, politely smiling and terrified, nor do we get inside her as a character, except to learn that she binges on junk food when depressed. That said, substantively this is an affecting cause for reflection on the socio-economic realities of today's world, encapsulated by the final scene: cosmopolitan unity in play, undercut by Aurora's awkward body language and apprehensive expression.
