Mubi Monday: Good Manners (2017)

Isabél Zuaa plays Clara, a woman who ends up getting a job as a nurse/helper/nanny in the household of pregnant Ana (Marjorie Estiano). Clara ends up being more than just an employee to Ana, helping her get through a very difficult time in her life by becoming a companion, and a sexual partner. But the baby coming along could change everything, especially when Clara is told of how he was conceived, and what that might mean for the future.

Co-written and co-directed by Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas, Good Manners is a film that feels very much in line with some other titles from the past few years that have successfully mixed some very real human drama with elements of creature features. It's a sweet tale that also uses some decent special effects in the second half to realise the less realistic aspect of the storyline, leading viewers carefully through ground that covers love, loss, fear, and the general nature of being a parent and wanting to keep your child safe from the dangers of the outside world.

Zuaa is the player who gets the most screentime here, and she does a very good job. More awkward and stiff in the early scenes, that's absolutely in line with how her character is as she is struggling to get a job that she may not be entirely qualified for, but she definitely needs. Estiano has a slightly easier time of things, in terms of what she's asked to convey, but does equally well. Then you have Miguel Lobo as young Joel. Lobo gives a frankly fantastic performance, as sweet and endearing as it is worrying and frustrating at times. There are a number of supporting roles, all cast perfectly, but the heart of the film is the relationship between parent and child, and I'm not going to single anyone else out from a uniformly excellent cast.

Apparently inspired by an urban legend, Dutra and Rojas have made something that feels very much steeped in the spirit of Brazil, yet also brings to the fore some themes and moments universally recognisable to all. There are times when this could all too easily be seen as something silly, or at least something tonally inconsistent, but Dutra and Rojas are savvy in keeping the focus on the leads, and how their relationship is affected by one huge problem that they're trying to cope with, which allows for the rest of the film to play out sensitively, and in a pretty grounded way.

The main thing that Good Manners gets wrong is simply not being as good as some of the other movies I have alluded to in a way that is vague enough to try and avoid spoilers. It's not as moving as some, not as visually stylish as others, and just falls a bit short of the mark for anyone who has found themselves lost in other cinematic worlds exploring similar dynamics. That's not a massive failing, and everyone working on this seems to be doing their best with what resources are available to them, but it does stop it from being at the very top tier of a recent crop of movies within a specific sub-genre.

Watch this, enjoy it, and look forward to the next films we get from Dutra and Rojas, whether they're working together again or helming projects on their own.

8/10

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