From Variety · Siddhant Adlakha · · 1m 20s
A mother's apology tour can't carry this film
Gabriel Martins turns a fatal bus crash into a grief drama that keeps losing its own best material.
In brief
Gabriel Martins turns a fatal bus crash into a grief drama that keeps losing its own best material. A strong premise still collapses when a film funnels every thread into one overworked performance. Originally reported by Variety.
A crash sets it off
Gabriel Martins builds his Netflix drama around a mysterious bus accident and the wreckage it leaves behind. The premise carries real force.
“A Brazilian drama with a powerful premise but labored execution”
Seen through the driver's mother
The story follows Vicentina, played by Rejane Faria, mother of the driver at the wheel. She becomes the film's single point of view.
Guilt as a public act
Vicentina punishes herself in the open, going door to door on an apology tour that turns private shame into a repeated ritual.
“she pillories herself with an apology tour”
Other families flicker past
Relatives of the other victims drift into view with their own grief, then get pushed back out before any of it can land.
“offering more potentially affecting moments which quickly fade from view”
The structure eats the story
Cycling through one apology after another leaves no room to stay with anyone. The shape of the film keeps cutting off its richest threads.
One performance, overloaded
Everything pivots onto Faria, and critic Siddhant Adlakha finds that the weight works against the movie more often than not.
“the dramatic focus pivots entirely around Faria's performance”
The big picture
A strong premise still collapses when a film funnels every thread into one overworked performance.
