As Boas Maneiras (2017) Reviews

• Even a child who is pure may become a wolf

  bertramprodutora2019-05-05

  The werewolf myth is about the innocent who is damned. The myth's fascination stems precisely from the fact that the condition of becoming a furious monster can strike a person who has done nothing wrong. What if this inherent innocence of the myth were taken to its ultimate consequences, and the curse affected a child? That's the wonderful premise of one of the best werewolf films of all time "The Good Manners" (a Brazil-France coproduction, shot in São Paulo). Attention: it is not your conventional jump scare movie (although it has a few chills here and there). The film mixes with wisdom and creativity different genres. It is a dark fairy tale in which horror, comedy, drama and even musical numbers blends altogether. Makes sense, since one of the main references are the Disney old animated feature films. It's two stories in one. The first half has a Hitchcockian tradition: the filmmakers do not hide from the audience the true nature of what is happening, but the protagonists still do not know. So we are apprehensive, hoping for them to find out. The second half is totally unpredictable and the stakes are higher. An absolute highlight is the musical score form brothers Guilherme and Gustavo Garbato, with chilling and beautiful lullabies.

• Fantastic - in every sense of the word

  Radu_A2018-07-31

  Given how weird this film is, I'm a bit surprised that there's no review about "Good Manners" yet. Horror titles usually get a good deal of attention but perhaps this is an indicator of just how unique this one is. The story seems straightforward enough at first: Impoverished Lesbian black nurse Clara gets hired by affluent yet unemployed white pregnant Ana - this in spite of giving her landlady as her only reference, who promptly tells her she's being owed rent. However, Clara's touch calms down the kicking baby, so Ana instinctively hires her - and soon their relationship gets very close. However, Ana's behavior becomes increasingly erratic as her pregnancy advances, culminating in... well, among other things, singing. Yup, it's a musical, too. I've seen a lot of genre movies and it's the rarest of the rare when one of the formulas is injected with something new. Horror often serves as social parables for the exclusion of the different, but here, you will find yourselves drowned in references and allusions, from queer bashing over solitary motherhood to race issues. There's so much to handle that it might be best to not try and process it all, and just abandon oneself to the beautiful weirdness of this film. Of course, a limited budget limits the scare of the CGI, you got to be open-minded about that. The emotional turmoil makes more than up for this as Isabél Zuaa's performance carries the film from the first shot. The script should have been tighter as it takes enormous leaps and then slows down. I'd recommend watching this late at night, with close friends who are into weird stuff, and after a few joints or drinks.

• Excelent!

  xenomorphicf2019-05-08

  Great acting by Isabél Zuaa and Marjorie Estiano, good practical effects, a lot of creativity in the narrative, nice design. One of the best in the recent "wave" of Brazilian horror flicks.

• Fantastic, but flawed.

  kingsaddamdavid2019-02-21

  I'm more of a killer doll type of guy myself, but I enjoy a good werewolf movie here and there and this one is a must watch for anyone who is into werewolves. Yes, it's subtitled - But, give it a chance. It's equal parts cute and depressing, clever and idiotic. A fantastic movie with a few notable flaws. The movie has these random moments that seem like there going somewhere, but end up nowhere. Some of the acting is hilariously bad, some of it is great. It's mainly the concept of a vegan 7 year old werewolf and his lesbain mother that holds the movie together. A fantastically flawed movie. Can see this being a 8 or 9 in the eyes of a werewolf lover.

• Worth a Look (with reservations)

  kirksworks2018-08-12

  MAJOR SPOILERS ahead, so beware... There are some truly wonderful ideas in this film. It's got excellent performances by everyone. Stunning, colorful and very moody cinematography. There are also songs. It's not really a musical, but somehow structured like one. It has things in common with Rosemary's Baby, Alien, and I think it's a variation on Ginger Snaps, which was about a female coming of age story welded into a werewolf yarn. In Good Manners (SPOILER), it's a coming of age story about a woman learning the ins and outs of how to raise a child werewolf and teaching him good manners. Like Rosemary in Polanski's film, the mothering instinct is strong in the lead character, Clara. It's what motivates the plot. The visual fx range from practical to CG. They are passable, but clearly look like what they are. Even so, they work within the story. Where the film falls down, in my opinion is in structure. It's clearly divided into two parts. START SPOILERS... The first part is about Clara taking a job as a nanny for pregnant Ana. They become romantically involved and Clara soon finds Ana has odd behaviors, walking in her sleep, for example, and eating cats. As the baby comes to term, Ana keeps having severe pains (ala Rosemary), until finally, the werewolf offspring bursts through her stomach (like Alien), killing Ana. Clara unwraps the umbilical cord, saving it's life, but cannot bring herself to abandon the creature by the river. End of the first part. Seven years pass and the child is a boy, Joel, raised by Clara. During full moons, she locks him in a small room, chained to the wall. The director has said the visual look of this film was inspired by Disney's Sleeping Beauty. I don't see it, but the chained to the wall idea seems to come from the Disney witch Maleficent visiting the Prince Philip chained to the wall of his cell. I won't spoil the rest of the film, only to say, the story goes on much longer, with Joel learning of his origin and rebelling against Clara. There is a touching, if abrupt ending. ...END SPOILERS The second half felt very slow. In fact the whole film was paced too slowly, but structurally, we didn't really need part one. That part of the story could have been told in flashbacks, memories, verbal and visual. That way the story would have started in high gear and gotten fleshed out as we progressed and learned how this all came about. That would have been more dramatic I think, and could have cut the film down by 30 min. Nevertheless, this is yet another interesting take on the werewolf mythology and may not be for everyone, but if you liked Ginger Snaps and Rosemary's Baby, this is well worth checking out if it roars into your neighborhood.