Eunice (Fernanda Torres, up for best actress at the Academy Awards), husband Rubens (Selton Mello) and their five children breezily hanging on the beach; later dropping the needle on a slice of achingly hip vinyl tropicalia at a house soirée.
Alarm bells are wailing slightly after those teenagers drive into a brutal army roadblock and the party is truly over when deathly silent agents of the state come knocking at the Paiva’s door to extract Rubens for “questioning” — to the sort of place where the corridors need to be regularly mopped of blood.
Torres is astounding as Eunice, every gesture of fear, pain and determination nuanced to perfection — perhaps the best female performance of the past year — while her very young supporting cast play out the slow destruction of their innocence superbly.
The big challenger to the beleaguered Emilia Pérez for the Best International Feature Oscar, I’m Still Here is a rare thing: a film that gives you a loving embrace while simultaneously delivering a massive gut punch.
Or their eldest daughter Veroca (Valentina Herszage) and friends cruising through the city in a car billowing with weed smoke, filming the streetscapes on her Super 8 camera (the grainy, blown-out footage from which is used to gorgeous effect).
