David's Secret AKA My Dead Ones (2018)

This is where it can get a bit difficult to review movies, when you see something new/obscure and don't take many notes. I try to avoid note-taking, because that way I can focus on the movie rather than my thoughts on the movie. Mentally, someone is in the little room upstairs, filing away some main thoughts, but everything else happens after, when the film is over and I gather my thoughts on it. David's Secret AKA My Dead Ones is an interesting film that I suspect I will not do justice to, but I hope people contact me if I make any basic errors here (in terms of cast names, etc).

Nicolas Prattes is Davi, the main character here. He's going through a time of great change, I think it's fair to say. First of all, he's a serial killer. And he's been filming his crimes and uploading them to the internet, making him quite the mysterious "celebrity". Second, he's processing feelings about his sexuality, feelings that he may have been keeping more in check before befriending the handsome Jônatas (André Hendges).

The feature directorial debut from Diego Freitas, who worked on the screenplay with Gustavo Rosseb, David's Secret is the kind of twisty-turny dark thriller that brings to mind a number of other, better, examples of this kind of thing. Which is not to say that this is bad. It just never quite hits the heights it reaches for, although I hope most viewers at least appreciate how far it does reach, and how often it deliberately avoids some over-familiar tropes.

The narrative constantly shifts focus, much like a camera lens trying to figure out what should be at the centre of each frame. Davi goes through life with a dizzying array of influences constantly bombarding him. His obvious love of film, his family and childhood, the idea of fame, his sexuality, and visions that he doesn't realise show his loosening grip on reality.

Prattes is very good in the lead role, enjoying portraying a character who can be viewed as both pitiful and very dangerous, and Hendges does very well in his strong supporting role. Neusa Maria Faro is suitably sombre as a character who is "impacted" by the lead before becoming a bit of an advisor to him, and João Côrtes does just fine, playing a struggling friend, Caio. All of these characters, and more, provide insights into the mental state of Davi, all while the camera carried by him continues to try and find more by looking elsewhere, almost certainly always looking in the wrong places.

The biggest problem that David's Secret has is a sense of the "been there, done that". It ultimately takes a more interesting direction than expected, but the journey feels as if it is going through very familiar territory, whether it's the voyeurism, the internet fame, the fractured mindset of the lead, or even the way in which things build and build to a third act that brings out one or two inevitable revelations just before it all ends.

The ending makes it all worthwhile. I just hope people are patient enough as they wander through well-trodden ground to get there.

6/10

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