Tabu Review - Sydney Film Festival
29/05/2012
Director: Miguel Gomes
Writer: Miguel Gomes and Mariana Ricardo
Starring: Teresa Madruga, Laura Soveral, Ana Moreira
In an apartment in Lisbon, Pilar (Madruga) lives next door to an erratic old woman, Aurora (Soveral), and her harsh but patient maid, Santa (Isabel Cardoso). Aurora falls ill and requests they find a man, Gian Luca Ventura, who neither Santa nor Pilar knew existed. When they find him, Ventura tells them a story about Aurora’s past – a tale of forbidden romance set in exotic and dangerous Africa.
I was surprised how funny and warm the film is, despite the story being quite dark at times. While it’s not exactly a comedy, I found myself laughing throughout the film and I wasn’t left feeling heavy or worrying about the characters after the credits rolled. I appreciated that, even though the tone shifts slightly at the climax, it doesn’t jar and each part flows smoothly.
Gomes has a talent at creating believable, well fleshed-out characters to the point where you feel as if you may be watching someone’s home videos. He perfectly captures moments and the dialogue he does use is completely natural.
Gomes worked as a film critic for the Portuguese press and you can see his passion and appreciation for cinema, especially old films, with the techniques he’s used in Tabu. Along with the soft focus, the use of black and white fits with the themes of nostalgia. The film uses minimal dialogue in the first section and in the second half there’s no dialogue at all, just diagetic sounds and narration. The lack of dialogue gives the genuine effect of someone telling you a story, you visualise what they’re saying and hear their voice but there’s no place for dialogue.
Not everyone will appreciate this film, it is slow and poetic and modern audiences may not have the patience to sit through it. It’s beautiful and whimsical and those who are old romantics at heart will enjoy it. The only aspect that disappointed me was that the film is divided into three, quite distinct, segments – the introduction involving the story of a man and a crocodile, part one which is titled Paradise Lost, and part two entitled Paradise. The structure niggled at me and I felt like there was something that went unresolved (even though I can’t quite put my finger on it). It might not have bothered me if we’d had a part three where we came back to the characters of part one but unfortunately once Ventura starts telling the story we don’t see Pilar or Santa again.
I loved Dandy, the sad crocodile who keeps escaping to be with Ventura. I enjoyed Dandy’s development from just a prop to something much deeper. I think Dandy symbolised a lot for me about the film; just as Dandy develops into something bigger, out of something simple and meaningless in the beginning, so do many aspects of Tabu and I feel like to discover all the layers you would have to study this film over many viewings. In a single viewing though, it does delight and surprise you with its tenderness and humour.
Highlight: Aurora telling Pilar of her monkey dream that led her to the casino.
Score: 8/10