ManiakJiggy
This is How Movies Should Be Made
Steineded
How sad is this?
Scarlet
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Filipe Bezerra
Being not only a Brazilian but a northeaster as well, I have to tell you that it is strange to see that so many people around the world actually enjoyed this film. I though to be very concerned to those who would understand the language, the situations and the causes of all of this. Well, seems that I was wrong and the themes exposed here are bound to be more universal than I expected.Every moment of Kleber Mendonças'Neighboring Sounds could be opened for discussion as subject of semiotics. The symbolism is so present and so meaningful that I was overwhelmed.A truly masterpiece, that have to be seen with very opened eyes.
bikenavy
Interesting. Strange. The editing. The framing. I like it but I'm not sure if I love it. It's quite unique and daring but at the same time it doesn't touch me deep. It has both mature and amateur touch that I don't trust the filmmaker. The use of sound, for example, seems too manipulative at times. The film has many suggestive elements conveying how the film is more than what it seems on the surface, but I'm not sure if they're just clever ploys for critics. I'm not really keen on the ending. Things come together too much. I rather see it ends with a more open-ended approach. However, it's worth seeing and it's likely to stay in your mind for sometime, which is a good thing.
emeiserloh
The people who find it dull (and there are quite a few judging from the IMDb reviews) really have dull minds. While this movie plays like a slice of life drama in a neighborhood in Recife, every single scene is carefully and meaningfully put together to speak about the nature of social structures in Brazil which date back to plantation times. These things may be more discernible in Northeastern states like Pernambuco where the plantations once flourished and formed the basis of the societal constructs and defined human relationships, but their residue still permeates the country as a whole, which, while trying to move beyond them, still remains mired in the same kind of stratifications.The film opens with black and white pictures of a plantation and then segues into a drama in 3 acts, using a crisscrossing narrative that delves into the day to day lives of various people who live and work on same street. And through their interactions and involvements we are given a very clear picture of class system as microcosm.This film is more than a simple slice of life. For those of you familiar with the films of Lucrecia Martel (Argentina), what seems to be disconnected and inconsequential is put together like a jigsaw puzzle that leads brilliantly to the films final scene, at which point the entire story crystallizes before our very eyes, and we realize how well it has been supported and enriched by all we have been shown. Throughout the film, there are narrative constructs for use to take hold of: the chapter headings, certain scenes that foreshadow, and a soundtrack the underscores where we are headed, without ever being exactly clear what we should prepare for. And this is, to a large part, the filmmaker's genius.
ungratefulwhelp
Any work, be it cinema, book or play, should be 'about' something. There should be some discernible central theme, a thread that is to be followed, a point that is being made. Otherwise, it is no different to standing in the street and watching life pass by at random.This film is 'about' nothing. I watched it with my Brazilian wife, having read that it had received a good review in the New York Times. From start to finish, it was a confusing mess of non sequiturs that simply make no sense whatsoever. It is, not to put to fine a point on it, a cinematic turd.Don't waste your time, there are far better Brazilian films out there than this.
