Estamos no Ar

Thirty-something Vítor still lives with his mother, Fátima, in his grandmother Júlia’s apartment. Fátima is a hairdresser with a quiet disposition who, at night, fantasises about the policeman who has just moved in next door. By day, Vítor is a lowly employee on a TV show. But at night, he dons his neighbour’s uniform to win the favour and satisfy the desires of a boy he’s met online. In her retirement home, Júlia is unable to sleep at night and has long forgotten what drugs she is meant to be taking. She misses her dead husband, who manifests himself in the body of a living friend, and gets involved in her daily activities. Through these characters, Diogo Costa Amarante constructs a fascinating portrait of lives lived while desires remain unrealised. After directing a series of acclaimed shorts, Amarante’s feature debut arrives as an impressive, fully realised portrait of three generations coping with unfulfilled lives. There are shades of Pedro Almodóvar, particularly in production design, the blurring of reality and fantasy and the queer narrative elements. But Estamos no ar remains a singular work of Amarante’s imagination, made all the more impressive by its cast. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)