Permanências

15 shots, 34 minutes: a man plays an electric piano; a woman smokes a cigarette and waits for the food to be ready; a man watches and listens to the rain; Alves Jr. is able to film a face, a dog or a door with the same delicateness, exhibiting a democratic formalism that exudes the same respect for all elements. The duration of a shot and what inhabits it are the stuf of cinema. This self-evident, yet oft-neglected truth is known by this filmmaker, who honors it by extractingtraces of the real from his characters and the places where they are. And when dealing with men and women, his aesthetic approach is aimed at reflecting, in a just manner, their dignity. (Roger Koza)