FILMS/
MUTUM
New Directors
Brazil/France, 2007, 95 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Sat, May 3 / 12:45 / Clay / MUTU03Y
Tue, May 6 / 6:15 / Kabuki / MUTU06K
CREDITS
- dir
-
Sandra Kogut
- prod
-
Flávio Ramos Tambellini, Laurent Lavolé, Isabelle Pragier
- scr
-
Ana Luiza Martins Costa, Sandra Kogut
- cam
-
Mauro Pinheiro Jr.
- editor
-
Sérgio Mekler
- cast
-
Thiago da Silva Mariz, Wallison Felipe Leal Barroso, João Miguel, Izadora Cristiani Fernandes Silveira, Rômulo Braga, Paula Regina Sampaio da Silva, Maria das Graças Leal Macedo
- source
-
TF1 International, 18 Quai du Point de Jour, 92100 Boulogne, France. FAX: 33-1-41-41-31-60.
Brazil’s remote Minas Gerais province provides the fascinating setting for this resonant tale of how one very unordinary child attempts to make sense of the world (and adults) around him. Shy, sensitive and usually untalkative (“mutum” can mean “mute”), 10-year-old Thiago spends the days on his family’s isolated farm trying to figure out what on earth his parents and other adults are up to. His kindly mother and abusive father seem barely compatible and their relationship turns for the worse once a mysterious event forces the boy’s uncle off the farm. Obsessed with religious concepts of sin, repentance and forgiveness, Thiago and his brother Felipe attempt to weigh the violence of their father’s actions against the kindness of their grandmother’s words, and also against the harsh, unforgiving landscape of the natural world around them. Based upon the famous Brazilian novel Campo Geral by João Guimarães Rosa, Mutum features an astonishing performance by the young Thiago da Silva Mariz as our pint-sized philosopher, a child wise beyond his years and an adorable big-eyed picture of vulnerability and charm. “He knows many stories but doesn’t realize it yet,” one character says of him. Director Sandra Kogut conceived of the film as existing on “the border between documentary and fiction;” the cast, most of whom had never seen a film before, lived as a family on the same farm for a few months before filming began and grew so comfortable as their characters that they improvised their own dialogue.
Presented in association with the Bay Area Brazilian Club. New Directors Prize contender. U.S. Premiere. Sponsored by DHL.
