No táxi do Jack

Eine Geschichte von der Arbeit, erzählt von einem Arbeitslosen. Bevor Joaquim Calçada in Frührente gehen kann, muss er noch drei Monate lang Stempel von potenziellen Arbeitgebern sammeln, bei denen er sich pro forma vorstellt. Stets elegant gekleidet, macht er sich in seinem Mercedes auf den Weg in die Gewerbegebiete und erzählt von seinem Werdegang. Mit NO TÁXI DO JACK knüpft Nobre an ihre Job-Center-Dokumentation VIDA ACTIVA (2014) an: ein Roadmovie über ein Arbeitsleben zwischen Militärdiktatur und Demokratie, mit einer zwischenzeitlichen Emigration in die USA, wo die Kluft zwischen Haben und Nichthaben größer ist als irgendwo sonst. (Lars Penning)

There’s nothing extraordinary about Joaquim’s story at first glance, there are others like him across Portugal, men in their early sixties for whom jobs no longer exist, forced to visit company after company without vacancies to get their unemployment benefit. But Joaquim is no ordinary man, his quiff is immaculate, his dress sense inspired by Elvis, his kindness a given, the sign in his car says elegance, and it’s not wrong. The motionless factories, emptied-out industrial sites, and verdant landscapes he passes by on his travels glow in the sunshine and on the 16mm film stock used to capture them, a present that continually calls the past to mind. Joaquim’s recollections do exactly the same, whether in voiceover or when brought to dramatic life, although the setting they conjure up is a different one: his time as a limousine driver in New York City in the 1970s, life as an immigrant, another precarious employment situation, some things don’t change.
This gentle road movie takes an ever-winding path, back and forth, here to there, mapping Portugal onto Manhattan, or was it the other way around? (James Lattimer)

Susana Nobre: O QUE PODE UM ROSTO (2003), ESTADOS DA MATÉRIA (2006, K), BOYS & GIRLS (2006, K), LISBOA- PROVINCIA (2006, K), VIDA ACTIVA (2014), PROVAS, EXORCISMOS (2015, K), NO TRILHO DOS NATURALISTAS: VIAGENS PHILOSOPHICAS (2016), TEMPO COMUM (2018)