Parky at the Pictures (In Cinemas 25/11/2017)

UTOPIA: 8TH PORTUGUESE FILM FESTIVAL.

Returning for an eighth year, the Utopia Portuguese Film Festival has added an academic element to its survey of recent and classic Lusophone pictures. It has also teamed up with the Essay Film Festival and the Brazilian Embassy to introduce a new audience to filmic traditions that haven't always been given sufficient critical credit for tackling the big issues with a dramatic intensity and stylistic rigour that is almost unique in European cinema.

There's a hint of Douglas Sirk and Rainer Werner Fassbinder about Fernando Vendrell's Skin (2005), which has been handsomely adapted from a novel by Henrique Galvão. Having served as an assistant to such renowned film-makers as Manoel de Oliveira, João César Monteiro and Raúl Ruiz, Vendrell made his mark as the producer of Fernando Trueba's Oscar winner, Belle Epoque (1994). However, despite working regularly in television, he has only directed fitfully for the big screen since debuting with Dribbling Fate (1998) and this politically provocative follow up to Light Drops (2002) remains his last outing to date. Despite being aware that her skin colour sets her apart from her well-heeled friends in 1970s Lisbon, 23 year-old Daniela Costa has a comfortable life with her aunt, Fernanda Lupa. She plays tennis and lounges by the pool, while she completes her degree in biology. But she is prevented from becoming a teacher because of her mixed heritage and is wounded by the coarse advances of a lecherous guest at a masked ball. Cousin Francisco Nascimento attempts to console her, but the attention sets Costa at odds with her closest friend (and Nascimentos girlfriend), Núria Madruga.

Seeking to rebel against her upbringing and the snooty social circle, Costa begins an affair with chauffeur Manuel Wiborg. But her world is turned upside down when her ailing father, Felipe Ferrer, returns from colonial service in Angola and Costa is forced to confront the fact that he had separated her from her mother (who had been his mistress) because she is his only child and he wants her to have the education and status to inherit his wealth. Their strained relationship is not improved, however, when Ferrer catches Costa with Wilborg and she runs away to join a small theatrical troupe. Allowed to be herself for the first time, Costa shows promise as a cabaret dancer. But Lupa and Nascimento have no intention of letting her sully the family name.

Spiritedly played by the vivacious Costa and a solid ensemble, this is an engrossing saga that captures the stiflingly oppressive atmosphere of Lisbon in the years immediately before the Carnation Revolution. But Carla Baptista's screenplay also examines the impact of the colonial legacy and the Angolan war of independence on the Portuguese psyche. The complacency of Costa's family and friends contrasts with the harsher realities being faced by the people she meets in the theatrical milieu, which compel her to reappraise her own place in a conflicted society. Vendrell mostly prevents the action from lapsing into melodrama. But, for all its thematic gravitas, it's Mario Masini's lustrous photography and Rosa Freitas's evocative production design that leave the deepest impression.

Africa plays an even more crucial role in Paulo Filipe Monteiro's Zeus (2016), another tale about leaving the past behind in the quest for self-discovery. An academic and actor who has enjoyed several stage successes, Filipe established himself on screen in a writing partnership with director João Mário Grilo that spawned The End of the World (1992), Os Olhos da Ásia (1996) and Longe da Vista (1998). But he also demonstrates an assured visual sense in a directorial debut that draws on the unconventional life of 1920s president, Manuel Teixeira Gomes.

Born in 1860 in the Algarve town of Portimão, Manuel Teixeira Gomes (Sinde Filipe) led a remarkably diverse life before assuming the highest office in the land. In addition to running the theatrical newspaper, Gil Vicente, he wrote racy novels and came to know North Africa while helping his father run a company importing figs. A staunch republican, Teixeira Gomes was also a gifted diplomat and became a trusted confidante of the British establishment around the time of the Great War. Despite being placed under house arrest by dictator Sidónio Pais in 1918, he represented Portugal at the Versailles peace talks and served at the League of Nations having been defeated by António José de Almeida in 1919 presidential election.

Four years later, however, Teixeira Gomes was appointed President of Portugal and spent the next 26 months striving to prevent the country from descending into chaos, as eight prime ministers failed to tackle a series of uprisings and the growing influence of the right-wing Nationalist Party. Frequently clashing with deposed prime minister Francisco Cunha Leal (Paulo Pinto), who regarded him as a purveyor of pornography, Teixeira Gomes resigned in dramatic fashion on 11 December 1925 and took the first boat out of Lisbon - which happened to be a freighter named Zeus - and took up residence in French Algeria, where he embraced the local lifestyle and went for long walks in the desert with a humble hotel worker, Amokrane (Idir Benebouiche).

This friendship gave Teixeira Gomes a sharper insight into the prejudicial and exploitative nature of colonial rule and Filipe focuses on the hostility that the exile endured on account of his friendship with a young Muslim. Having settled in the town of Bougie, the 77 year-old author succeeded in scandalising Lisbon with his 1938 novel, Maria Adelaide, and Filipe recreates key scenes from the text with Catarina Luís as his heroine. But, for all the excellence of João Ribeiro's photography, João Torres's production design and Silvia Grabowski's costumes, as well as Sinde Filipe's dignified performance, this suffers from an over-emphatic approach to the social and political themes, as Filipe strives to highlight their continued relevance a century on.

Exile is also the theme of Rita Azevedo Gomes's Correspondences (2016), which draws on the letters that poets Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen and Jorge de Sena exchanged after the later fled the Estado Novo regimes of António de Oliveira Salazar and Marcello Caetano. In addition to her duties as a programmer, curator and publisher at the Cinemateca Portuguesa, Azevedo Gomes is also an experienced director, who debuted with O Som da Terra a Tremer (1990), but is probably best known for A 15ª Pedra (2007), a documentary record of a conversation between Manoel De Oliveira and cineaste João Bénard da Costa, and A Woman's Revenge (2011), an adaptation of the 1874 Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly novel, Les Diaboliques, that has also been filmed by Robert Wiene (1921) and Catherine Breillat (2007).

Some may be familiar with João César Monteiro's monochrome 1969 profile, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, which the poet considered successful only in so much that it demonstrated the difficulty of filming poetry. However, both Monteiro and Azevedo Gomes latch on to the importance of the sea in Sophia's writing and in her notion of freedom. Yet, she left her childhood home in Porto to settle in Lisbon and, alongside her politician husband Francisco Sousa Tavares, championed the cause of the deposed monarchy during the Salazar era. In addition to her poetry, Sophia also wrote short stories and children's books. But it was her verses and a shared love of liberty that underpinned her friendship with De Sena, who was so outspoken about the dictator in his essays and poetry that he fled to Brazil in 1959. However, while he managed to find university posts that enabled him to keep writing, De Sena felt compelled to relocate to the United States following the 1964 military coup and he remained in California until his death from lung cancer at the age of 59 in 1978.

De Sena's autobiographical novel Sinais de Fogo, was filmed by Luís Filipe Rocha in 1995. But Azevedo Gomes takes a much more ambitious approach to her material, as she has Mário Barroso. Luís Miguel Cintra, Tânia Dinis, Rita Durão, Anna Leppänen, Pierre Léon, Francisco Nascimento, Boris Nelepo, Luna Picoli-Truffaut, Hugo Tourita and Eva Truffaut read the letters in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish in a variety of interior and exterior settings photographed by Acácio de Almeida and Jorge Quintela.

The shifts between locations suggests De Sena's peripatetic existence (he and his wife also travelled to Italy and Greece), while the ageing of the digital imagery to match the archive footage gives the material a timeless feel that is designed to remind the audience of the continuing relevance of the musings about rights, duties, ideals and the abuse of power. But this nostalgic time capsule also contains some autobiographical allusions, while Azevedo Gomes also seeks to highlight the filmic nature of this often demanding enterprise. Thus, it includes self-reflexive passages that expose the paraphernalia and methodology used in making a film that conclusively proves that literary and cinematic lyricism are compatible after all.

João Nicolau also eschews conventional storytelling methods in John From (2015), which he has scripted with Mariana Ricardo, with he co-starred in Miguel Gomess short, Canticle of All Creatures (2006). Having debuted with the documentary Calado no Dá (1999), anthropologist Nicolau edited pictures for Gomes (31, 2003), João César Monteiro (Come and Go, 2003) and Alessandro Comodin (Summer of Giacomo, 2011 & Happy Times Will Come Soon, 2016). But this beguiling study of childhood innocence and imagination marks something of a departure from his directorial debut with the surreal adventure, The Sword and the Rose (2010).

Teenager Júlia Palha lives with parents Leonor Silveira and Adriano Luz in an apartment in a soulless building in the Lisbon suburb of Telheiras. She spends much of her time with red-haired neighbour Clara Riedenstein, with whom she shares many secrets including a special language that they use to pass messages via the lift shaft. However, they are shaken out of their routine by a small photographic exhibition about life in Melanesia and Palha develops a crush on 40 year-old neighbour Filipe Vargas when she discovers that he took the pictures that have exoticised her imagination.

Beginning in an almost docurealist manner, this mesmerising film changes tone with Palha and Riedenstein's perceptions, as they become obsessed with South Sea culture and the man who introduced them to it. This could easily have become tacky, but Nicolou takes his cues from Eric Rohmer and Miguel Gomes to give the story a dreamlike quality that is teasingly, but affectionately and unpatronisingly maintained.

But there is a sharper message behind the legend of John From, the first white outsider who had promised the islanders of Vanuatu that he would improve their lot, although Nicolau and Ricardo (who both hail from Telheiras) are careful not to overload the fantasy with too much critique. They are splendid served by newcomers Palha and Riedenstein, as well as by cinematographer Mário Castanheira and production designers Cypress Cook and Bruno Duarte, who charmingly turn a middle-class backwater into a tropical paradise. Repaying a favour, Alessandro Comodin edits with a finesse that ensures this remains quirky without becoming kitschy, as a mundane summer is tinged with a touch of magic.

RUSSIAN FILM WEEK.

Returning for a second year, Russian Film Week presents a generous selection of features and documentaries at various venues across the capital. The pick of the titles is undoubtedly Andrei Zvyagintsev's Loveless, which sees Maryana Spivak and Alexei Rozin attempt to control the mutual antipathy that has driven them towards divorce in order to find 12 year-old son Matvei Novikov, who has gone missing in Moscow. However, the pair are also distracted by Spivak's nascent romance with the wealthy Andris Keishs and Rozin's need to protect pregnant girlfriend Marina Vasilyeva and keep his separation from an ultra-Christian boss who insists he is married with children.

Few films have caused such controversy in recent Russian screen history than Alexei Uchitel's Matilda, which was branded blasphemous by those fanatically defending the reputation of the Tsar-Martyr, Nicholas II. In fact, Uchitel and co-writers Alexandr Dostmann and Vladimir Vinokur take such pains to be tactful in their depiction of the romance between the 22 year-old tsarevich and an 18 year-old Polish ballerina that one is left with little to do other than admire the lustrous cinematography of Yuri Klimenko, Vera Zelinskaya and Elena Zhukovas impeccable production design and Nadezhda Vasileva's sumptuous costumes.

Much is made of the 1890 costume malfunction that saw Mathilde (Michalina Olszanska) expose her left breast to Nicholas (Lars Eidinger) on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. But her rivalry with fellow dancer Pierina Legnani (Sarah Stern) also comes to the fore, as does the fact that Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich (Grigori Dobrigin) also has his eye on the free spirit whose impact on his son is viewed with considerable benevolence by his father, Tsar Alexander III (Sergei Garmash). However, when he falls ill, Tsarina Maria Fedorovna (Ingeborga Dapkunaite) enlists the aid of Colonel Vlasov (Vitali Kishchenko), Dr Fischel (Thomas Ostermeier) and Count Illarion Vorontsov (Danila Kozlovski) to get Mathilde out of the way and Nicholas married off to German princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt (Luise Wolfram).

Whether depicting train crashes, crown fittings and ill-omened coronations, Uchitel opts for the spectacular. But there is plenty of intimacy and intrigue, as the Romanov machine goes into overdrive to avoid a scandal and present a show of strength as the monarchy lurches into its final reign. The performances are solid, without being particularly memorable, but Lars Erdinger and Michalina Olszanska convey something of the sweetness contained in their letters, while Ingeborga Dapkunaite is suitably imposing as the Dowager trying to protect her foolish son by entrusting him to the malleable Luise Wolfram. But, rather in keeping with the events to mark the centenary of the dual revolutions of 1917, this rings a bit hollow.

The political undercurrent is equally strong in Fyodor Bondarchuk's Attraction, a rare Russian venture into sci-fi blockbuster territory that is clearly aimed as much at pleasing President Vladimir Putin as it is enthralling audiences. Mixing incidents and ideas from such Hollywood classics as Robert Wise's The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (1996), this follows Bondarchuk's bid to extoll the Russian character in Stalingrad (2013). But he is nowhere near as accomplished a film-maker as his Oscar-winning father, Sergei Bondarchuk, and, as a consequence, this winds up feeling like a Kremlin-approved version of Joe Cornish's Attack the Block (2011).

When an alien spacecraft flattens a Moscow housing estate after being accidentally shot down during a meteor show, Colonel Oleg Menshikov cordons off the Chertanovo area. However, rebellious daughter Irina Starshenbaum and her cocky boyfriend Alexander Petrov are determined to get inside the ship, where they encounter extraterrestrial Rinal Mukhametov, who is wearing body armour and able to communicate with the Earthlings. He claims he needs something called `shlik' to repair his craft and Starshenbaum is eager to help him. But Petrov and his pal Nikita Kukushkin are more openly hostile to the outsider and, when it's discovered that the spaceship is siphoning off water during an acute shortage, the pair provoke the locals into rioting.

As this is a parable about the peace-loving nature of the welcoming Russian people, Bondarchuk and screenwriters Oleg Malovichko and Andrei Zolotarev ensure the kind of happy ending that would delight Klaatu. But he also portrays police reprisals in all their brutality and suggests that their are uneducated elements within the country who are prepared to lash out against cultures they don't understand. But the emphasis is most firmly on grandstanding entertainment and the bullish cast throw themselves into action that often belies its modest budget. Cinematographer Mikhail Khasaya, conceptual artist Alexei Andreev and SFX designer Ilia Vorobev merit mention, but this lacks the novelty and scale to attract fanboys and the allegorical finesse to intrigue the arthouse crowd.

Also on view in the fictional part of the programme are Alexei Rybin's All Will End Soon (a factory machinist's life is transformed when a prostitute moves in with him); Vladimir Kott's Thawed Carp (a retired provincial teacher is distracted from making plans for her own funeral when she receives a large carp as a gift); Sarik Andreasyan's Guardians (the four members of the crack Cold War `Patriot' unit are called back into action in a rare Russian comic-book adventure); Konstantin Khudiakov's Like a Butterfly (a dying brothel madam takes solace in an abandoned six year-old girl); Vlad Furman's Guppy (a woman demonstrates the ability of her pet fish to survive in any conditions); Dmitri Kiselev's Space Walker (a war veteran and a hot-headed test pilot have to co-operate to give the Soviet Union the lead in the space race); Yusup Razykov's Sella Turcica (a former KGB/FSB agent is diagnosed with Turkish Seat Syndrome); Kantemir Balagov's Closeness (a Jewish family in Nalchik in the North Caucasus asks for help from the local community when their son is kidnapped by tribesmen); Ivan Bolotnikov's Kharms (a biopic of Daniil Yuvachov, the Soviet-era dandy who found fame as satirist and absurdist Daniil Kharms); Valérie Müller and Angelin Preljocaj's Polina (a classical ballerina becomes obsessed with contemporary dance); Lera Surkova's Pagans (a teenage girl becomes involved in a tragic romance following a visit by her devout grandmother); Boris Khlebnikov's Arrhythmia (a dedicated paramedic gets grief from his martinet boss and his neglected wife); Nigina Sayfullaeva, Pavel Ruminov, Natalia Merkulova, Rezo Gigineishvili, Evgeniy Shelyakin, Anna Melikyan and Alexey Chupov's About Love 2 (an anthology centring on ordinary people looking for love in the Russian capital); Anton Bilzho's Dreamfish (a St Petersburg proof-reader's life changes when he comes to an Estonian spa town to work on an encyclopedia of the Baltic Sea Fishes); Kseniya Zueva's Nearest and Dearest (a tragedy heals the wounds in a divided Muscovite family); Roman Karimov's Have Fun, Vasya! (a romcom about a married man who accidentally proposes to his mistress and has to hire a stranger to pose as his fiancée when his wife insists on meeting her); Yuri Kulakov and Yuri Ryazanov's Petr and Fevronia (in medieval times, a prince finds love with the healer helping him defeat a wicked sorcerer); Roman Volobuev's Blockbuster (a woman recovering from a mental breakdown is taken as a hostage by a wannabe model robbing a small-town bank); and Rezo Gigineishvili's Hostages (a dramatic reconstruction of the 1983 bid by seven Georgian intellectuals to flee the USSR by hijacking a plane).

On the documentary slate are Mikhail Barynin's 24 Snow (a profile of Sergei Lukin, a horse and cattle breeder from the frozen wastes of the Arctic Yakutia); Ekaterina Eremenko's Lake Vostok: At the Mountains of Madness (a study of the mysteries and mythologies of Antarctica); Aleksander Stolyarov and Sergei Dogorov's Russia Is Beautiful, Son (a chronicle of the journey of hope taken by seven year-old Gosha Kravtsov and his father as part of the Live Fair expedition from Moscow to Ruyan City in Siberia); Anastasia Palchikova's Bolshoi (an account of Yulka Olshanskaya's bid to leave her provincial mining town and become a ballerina in Moscow); Lidia Sheinin's Harmony (a study of how an old lady loses control of her tiny flat when her niece moves in with her four unruly children); Yulia Varentsova's Tenbenka (a record of entrepreneur Boris Akimov's bid to rejuvenate the eponymous Barents Sea village after it features in Andrei Zvyagintsev's Leviathan); Sergei Yastrzhembski's Tigers and Humans (an investigation into the plight of the last 500 Amur tigers on the Russo-Chinese border); Anastasia Popova's The Heart of the World (an exposé of the condition of Lake Baikal. the water in the world's largest freshwater reservoir); Charlie Targett-Adams's Placebo alt. Russia (alternative band Placebo's tour takes them from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia to St Petersburg on the Baltic Sea); and Julia Bobkova's The Last Waltz (ailing composer Oleg Karavaichuk seeks to immortalise the St Petersburg district of Komarovo, where he has lived his entire life).