Memory House

A progressively intolerable endeavor, Memory House follows Antônio Pitanga’s Cristovam as he experiences a mental and physical breakdown in the wake of several unpleasant occurrences (including a wage cut at the factory in which he’s worked for years). It’s worth noting that filmmaker João Paulo Miranda Maria, at least, does a nice job of opening Memory House with some promise, as the picture boasts an ominous first few minutes bursting with potential (ie the stage seems to be set for a moody little drama). The movie’s subsequent shift into an exceedingly (and excessively) deliberate endeavor that grows less and less interesting is fairly disappointing, to put it mildly, as Maria delivers an increasingly abstract midsection and third act that contains little in the way of compelling, coherent elements – which effectively ensures that Memory House has, by the time it mercifully concludes, confirmed its place as interminable an art-house misfire as one can easily recall.

1/2* out of ****