Still Orangutans (Gustavo Spolidoro, 2008): Brazil

Reviewed by David Smith. Viewed at the AFI Film Festival, ArcLight Hollywood.

Still Orangutans is an interesting film due to its unpredictability.  The camera rolls through the lives of sixteen people,  with action, curiosity, and suspense.  The Genre include comedy, drama, music, and romance.   The cinematography is limited due to the film being shot in one take.   I consider this film something that an amateur  student could do on a given Saturday if provided with talented actors. 

The very beginning captured my attention by a great moving shot of the city of “Porto Alegre, Brazil”.  This is followed by a dramatic scene of a man becoming aware of his girlfriends death while sitting next to her on the train.  The man is followed off the train, by a waist high camera shot, into a business district .  This is immediately followed by the actor demonstrating extreme anger through ranting and raving.  The camera then moves into the action of another group of people.  There is a most interesting transition from the third segment to the forth.  For an example a girl is filmed going through her routine getting to work, through means of public transportation, she eventually puts on her work shirt and turns a corner.  The camera then is on a naked women laying on the floor of an empty room.  As the camera draws closer ominous sounds echoing and the lady starts freaking out.  Notes are slipped to her from under the door that make her more crazy.  I wont tell what happens to her.

This film doesn’t follow a classic Hollywood narrative.   There isn’t a clear private or public goal of the principles in any of the sequences except in the last segment.  I started to lose interest once this is repeated a few times.  My suspension of disbelief was still in tact due to the cinematography (a hand held camera) but my expectations weren’t ever met.  There are turning points but no unity.  For an example this couple enter a friends apartment and start dancing.  They appear to be under the influence of something.  As the scene progressed the girl became unconscious, which is the first turning point.  The man is then frantic trying to revive her.  After his attempts he leaves the apartment and waits for someone to pick him up.  The plot then moves on to other people and the outcome of the couples segment are never known.

This film is somewhat entertaining by means of great acting.  The realism and the exclusive diegetic world of the people being showcased is very believable.  I am impressed that the film is shot in one take. (there are six takes and the director chose the second one)