I’m Still Here

Directed by Walter Salles, I’m Still Here follows Fernanda Torres’ Eunice Paiva as she strives to find out what happened to her husband (Selton Mello’s Rubens Paiva) after his forced disappearance. It’s compelling subject matter that is, for the most part, employed to frustratingly underwhelming and uninvolving effect by Salles, as the filmmaker, armed with a screenplay by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega, delivers an often aggressively deliberate endeavor that remains unable to capture the viewer’s interest and attention throughout – with the arms-length atmosphere ensuring that certain positive attributes, including (and especially) Torres’ stirring performance, are ultimately rendered moot. And while the movie has admittedly been peppered with a very small handful of engrossing sequences (eg the initial arrival of military men within Eunice and Rubens’ home), I’m Still Here segues into a hopelessly meandering midsection that contains exceedingly little in the way of forward momentum and dramatic heft – with the emphasis placed largely (and disastrously) on Eunice’s far-from-enthralling day-to-day exploits. The presence of an admittedly stirring final few minutes does little to allay what’s otherwise (and mostly) a terminally misguided piece of work, which is a shame, certainly, given the riveting and seemingly foolproof nature of the film’s true-life setup.

*1/2 out of ****