Neighboring Sounds

Dir: Kleber Mendonça Filho

2012

*****

Neighboring Sounds is the astounding debut feature from writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho. It’s a film that doesn’t quite state it’s intentions until the very end, and even then I’m not sure it does. Just as I settled into the story the whole style of it changed and, although subtle, it became one of the most original films of the decade so far. The story has so many hidden layers I’m still not sure I got all of them but this very simple film is an excellent exploration of society, looking at the old ways as well as sounding echos from the future. The fact that it only took six weeks to shoot but over two years to edit shows just how much thought and meaning went into the final production. It is a slice of modern Brazil but the truths relate to everywhere in our modern climate of change. What starts out as a very simple drama following a couple of residents of a Brazilian street, soon turns into an existential journey of fear and paranoia but without descending into horror or cheap thriller territory. The film has a constant sound of dogs barking, the hum of a refrigerator, music blasting from a street vendor’s stereo, the distant noise of a hundred televisions and the vibrations of a dozen early morning vacuum cleaners. It is visually captivating from start to finish, even in the most ordinary of scenes. We flash through the lives of several of the residents but the invisible main character of the film is the ever present feeling of existential anxiety that permeates each and every sub-story. There is a sense of inevitable doom that is so subtle, it’s almost impossible to put one’s finger on. Unlike many typical Brazilian films, Neighboring Sounds is not about life in the favelas or about gangsters or drug gangs, but about the uneasy divide between the growing middle-classes and the working class living side-by-side in a crowded urban setting. Compositions are framed behind fences and closed doors to suggest maximum isolation, a suggestion that in today's Brazilian urban areas, a melting pot is built out of necessity, not out of choice. There is an element of limo to the street where young and old clash regularly with very few mediators. The opening shot shows old photos of workers in a sugarcane plantation who would have lived there originally. This is cut down in contrast as a shot of a young girl on rollerblades glides past a row of brand new apartments. From there on unfold a series of small incidents that convey an atmosphere of encroaching claustrophobia. Bia, a married mother of two, is driven mad by the constant barking and howling of her neighbour’s dog and sets about poisoning it while keeping it secret from her suspecting children, setting the tone of the entire film. João, the closest character the film has to a protagonist, is caught naked in his living room with Sofia by the arriving housemaid Maria who makes light of the incident, engaging in conversation with João and Sofia in the confining space of his kitchen. The block is run by the local "don," Francisco a wealthy landlord with a questionable past. João is Francisco's grandson, a real estate agent for the family who own many of the new buildings in the street. On leaving João’s apartment, Sofia realises that her car has been broken into and her stereo has been stolen. The arrival of a rather pushy independent private security firm the same day as the theft is suspicious but João immediately suspects his cousin Dinho, a lazy petty criminal who lives in the shadow and protection of his grandfather. João hires the security patrol manned by Clodoaldo to oversee the neighborhood's safety. The residents of the block are relatively wealthy, so they feel they need more security but even then, they do not feel safe in a country where there is a large disparity between rich and poor. The security patrol is ostensibly there to ensure the neighbor's safety, but accomplishes the very opposite when their true motives are revealed. All the while João contemplates his role there, after living abroad for many years before. Over time Sofia quietly accompanies him as the sense of anxious dread becomes more apparent. What seems to be disconnected and inconsequential is put together like a jigsaw puzzle that leads brilliantly to the films final scene. It gets a little fantastical towards the end which I absolutely adore but many of the film’s core scenes come from simple lines of dialogue and unique situations. The waterfall scene where it is suggested that Francisco is in fact the devil is wonderful but it doesn’t quite hit the gut as the scene whereby João is trying to sell an apartment of a recently deceased suicide. It transpires that the previous occupant jumped several stories to their death from the beautiful balcony with a view. It is easy to enjoy the visuals and be entertained by the colourful characters but there is no escape from the sense of inevitability, like something negative is being foreshadowed. It’s an absolute masterstroke to achieve this mood from the very ordinary. Those two years of editing were clearly used wisely. It’s not short of a masterpiece.