I’m Still Here plus Short Takes on other cinematic topics

A Horrifying Story, Among So Many Others

Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke

I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.  However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options may be on the horizon.  (Note: Anything in bold blue [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)

My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”

(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)

                            I'm Still Here (Walter Salles, 2024)

                                        rated PG-13   138 min.

Here’s the trailer:

        (Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size; 

        activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)

 No Plot SpoilerAlert this time because the events of this docudrama are public record (including the 2015 memoir, Ainda Estou Aqui, by Marcelo Rubens Paiva about his family), but if you want more plot details please consult this site.  What we’re exploring here is the plight of the Paiva family in 1970 Rio de Janeiro where Dad Rubens (Selton Mello) is an architect living comfortably in a near-seaside home with wife Eunice (Fernanda Torres) and their 5 children, despite the military dictatorship in place since 1964, although oldest daughter Vera’s (Valentina Herszage) sent to London to live with friends as she begins college.  One day, though, in January 1971 their tranquility’s disturbed when he’s brought in for questioning, never to be seen by his family or us again, followed by a new demand Eunice and teenage-daughter Eliana (Luiza Kosovski) also be brought in for questioning.  Eliana’s released after 1 day, but Eunice is locked up for several days while going through harsh questioning about Rubens clandestinely involved with pro-democracy activities which she denies—although we later learn he was, verifying his arrest. Much of the film at this point is about Eunice’s futile attempts to find Rubens, which finally leads to a journalist friend telling her he’s been killed (or “disappeared,” term used by repressive governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and other countries in those later-20^th-century decades to refer to political prisoners who were never released or found), although the military refuses to confirm this.  Against her kids’ wishes, she decides to move them all to São Paulo to be close to some of her relatives.  Then we move ahead to 1996, with democracy restored, as Eunice finally gets Rubens’ death certificate (but his body was never found), leading to her calls for reparations to the many victims’ survivors.  Next we’re in 2024 where Eunice is 85 (now played by Fernanda Montenegro), confined to a wheelchair, suffering from Alzheimer’s, within a family gathering of her now-adult children, remembering Rubens.

 Graphics before the final credits tell us Rubens was killed in January 1971 but the 5 men identified as responsible were never charged; Eunice at age 48 earned a law degree, worked for various Brazilian/international agencies, died in 2018.  (My minor complaint about this otherwise marvelous, moving film is I’d liked to have seen even brief scenes about this later work of hers rather than just getting a glimpse of it; instead we focus almost entirely on her frustrated grief at knowing for so long nothing concrete her husband.)  Torres won the 2025 Golden Globe award for Best Actress (first Brazilian to win an acting award there), was nominated in that category for a 2025 Oscar (she’d be in my Top 5) where the film did take the trophy for Best International Feature, also nominated for overall Best Picture (first Brazilian film to be a finalist in that category, with both of those other noms losing to Anora [Sean Baker, 2024] ... damn!).  If you haven’t yet seen this compelling film it’s still in 442 domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters, opened on January 17, 2025, taken in $5.9 million ($33.9 million worldwide) so far, but it’s likely much more available on streaming where you can rent it for $19.99 from Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV+.  Along with me, the CCAL actively recommends watching this (slightly unpolished?) gem where the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews are at a high of 97%, the Metacritic average score is a whopping (for them) 85%, with the possible (sad) caveat that you might have to force yourself to read subtitles because the dialogue’s in Portuguese.

 

 As I wrap up with my usual tactic of a Musical Metaphor, I’ll try to help condition you for that subtitle reading (this upcoming video's in Spanish) by using another Oscar winner (Best Original Song), “El Mal” (“The Evil,” from another Best Picture and Best International Feature nominee, Emilia Pérez [Jacques Audiard, 2024]) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM-voEepRyI (sung by that film’s Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress, Zoe Saldaña, and Best Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón) as it also calls out government corruption: “Losing a loved one is a tragedy / Losing their remains is a condemnation.”  Despite the controversy over statements made by Gascón and Audiard (likely cost them any further Oscar triumphs), I still encourage viewings of Emilia Pérez and I’m Still Here, even if it’s just to help tune up your bilingual skills.  (One final note: I’m Still Here it will need to bump off The Last Stop in Yuma County [Francis Galluppi] as #8 on my 2024 Top 10 list [see our postings of February 20 and March 12, 2025, as I don’t want to repeat the whole thing once again].)

            

SHORT TAKES

               

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:

        

Options for your consideration: (1) Recent theatrical releases now available on streaming (Sing Sing interests me to see); (2) IMDb's 5 Things to Watch on the week of 3/17/2025 (or not, I'd say).

 

We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts* (scroll to the bottom of this Summary page to see additional info about your wacky critic, Ken Burke, along with contact info and a great retrospective song list).  Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage.  If you’d like to Like us on Facebook (yes?) please visit our Facebook page.  We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it unto us!  Please also note that to Post a Comment below about our reviews you need to have either a Google account (which you can easily get at https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount if you need to sign up) or other sign-in identification from the pull-down menu below before you preview or post.  You can also leave comments at our Facebook page, although you may have to somehow register with us there in order to comment (FB procedures: frequently perplexing mysteries for us aged farts).

 

*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problem’s been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.

 

If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here at the blog please 

use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work.

           

OUR POSTINGS PROBABLY LOOK BEST ON THE MOST CURRENT VERSIONS OF MAC OS AND THE SAFARI WEB BROWSER (although Google Chrome usually is decent also); OTHERWISE, BE FOREWARNED THE LAYOUT MAY SEEM MESSY AT TIMES.

            

Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits at this site were 8,652—a huge drop-off from the marvelous 40-50K of some recent months; never overestimate yourself! (As always, we thank all of you for your ongoing support with our hopes you’ll continue to be regular readers.)  Below is a snapshot of where those responses have come from within the previous week (with appreciation for the unspecified “Others” also visiting Two Guys’ site):

Share this post