Synopsis
Clara, a lonely nurse from the outskirts of São Paulo, is hired by mysterious and wealthy Ana as the nanny for her unborn child. The two women develop a strong bond, but soon Clara discovers a terrifying secret about the child.
2017 ‘As Boas Maneiras’ Directed by Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas
Clara, a lonely nurse from the outskirts of São Paulo, is hired by mysterious and wealthy Ana as the nanny for her unborn child. The two women develop a strong bond, but soon Clara discovers a terrifying secret about the child.
Les bonnes manières, Gute Manieren, נימוסים טובים, 굿 매너스, Dobre maniery, Хорошие манеры, 好孩子, 血色搖籃曲
A terrific argument against having children. Or a good argument for having children and never ever feeding them meat.
O ator que faz o menino Joel se chama Miguel Lobo. LOBO. L-O-B-O.
L
O
B
O
Miguel Lobo.
I love women. I love werewolves. I love lesbians with babies. I love lesbian moms with werewolf babies. The cover art for this film is physically assaulting me and I'm crying.
63/100
A.V. Club review. Another film I'm happy I saw with zero foreknowledge, as it pulls a nearly Audition-level gear shift from precisely observed naturalism to psychotronic mayhem (though there are early hints of the fantastic, e.g. some gorgeously forbidding matte paintings). Rojas and Dutra work almost too hard establishing what appears to be the film's central relationship, replete with subtly incisive commentary on race and class; though excited by the narrative's unexpected swerve, I also mourned the loss of a dynamic (and one terrific performance) in which I'd become quite emotionally invested. Wouldn't be a problem were the second half equally strong, but it's "merely" entertaining, hitting a lot of familiar genre beats and significantly flattening its thematic inquiry.…
Well observed and imagined social fantasy. Rojas and Dutra have some difficulties directing kids which adds an unevenness to the second. The first part is terrific. It is not quite a horror film, more a movie that takes off from supernatural elements and I’m not quite sure it fully earns the monster film ending it is going for, but plenty of strong scenes until it gets there.
Good Manners has a giant mid-film shift, so it basically functions as two separate stories. While the first half is perfect, the second is a disappointing, despite a killer ending. At first, the film presents a world of lonely women looking after each other when men are no use to them. Class disparity and domestic fears run underneath everything to create a layered horror setup. The sanitised visual look is beautifully detached. Essentially this first section acts as a two-hander, grounded by two fantastic performances. Yet after those opening scenes, we move to a film that plays more on the level of children. Here it becomes about taking responsibility and attempting to normalise a situation that children cannot understand. Good…
A great slow burn story about women (a young soon-to-be mother and a lesbian nurse), motherhood, werewolves, and unconditional love.
The length of this film didn't matter to me as I enjoyed its every single moment despite having multiple plots. This managed to perfectly capture the characters' emotions. I felt the different types of intimacy displayed on screen. I expected to be scared watching this, but I got touched and emotional instead. This made the film enjoyable and excellent for me. It's just that when you formed attachment with someone, it's hard to just leave something or someone behind that is part of them.
Gosto da concepção do universo. Dessa ideia maleável e ambígua tanto numa questão material e espacial (cgi, efeitos especiais) como no trabalho com a justaposição de gêneros e iconografias (terror, romance, folclore).
Mas sinto que falta um escopo dramático básico pra segurar tudo isso, ainda mais em um filme que quer se sustentar numa ideia da comoção pelo mito e pela premissa um pouco mais clássica da sua estrutura.
Ao mesmo tempo que ele sugere coisas interessantíssimas nesse jogo conceitual com as tradições que aponta, toda a base dramática é fundada num naturalismo meio frouxo, nessa fala sussurrada e meio apática. Vira um pouco essa alegoria de boas intenções sobre uma construção de cena que mal tenta ser básica (lembra…