Gabriel Mascaro

Divine Love aka Divino Amor

by
Joana dressed in white in front of a painted background of a beach

There’s an opaque quality to Divine Love (Divino Amor), as there was with Gabriel Mascaro’s last film, Neon Bull. But, subject matter to one side, the big difference between them is that Neon Bull didn’t explain itself, whereas Divino Amor does, only in the film’s last third revealing that it hasn’t really been explaining itself at all. It’s all been a bit of a feint. The genre, for instance. Sci-fi, or so it claims, with the action set in Brazil in 2027 (barely into the future at all then) where Joana and Danilo, a loving couple are members of a charismatic evangelical church. When not dancing like dervishes at church raves – the … Read more

Neon Bull

by
Iremar at the sewing machine

Iremar (Juliano Cazarré) is a bull handler who travels from one Brazilian rodeo to another. It’s a life lived on the road, with a small gang of fellow nomads. They pitch up, do their job, then move on. Like a little family they eat together, joke, squabble. They have each others’ backs. Iremar is the guy who puts chalk on the bulls’ tails, so the guys on horseback out in the arena can better grab a hold (these rodeos seem to consist of grabbing the tail and flipping the bull onto its back). By day he applies chalk, opens the gate into the arena to let the bulls run, then cleans up afterwards, … Read more