I.R.L.

Last night I watched “Pixote” on the Criterion Channel and it wrecked me I knew nothing of this film before it popped up on the April release schedule for the boutique streaming service, and upon seeing it, jotted it down as a film to check out. One thing I am just starting is actually writing down movies that I want to check out on the various streaming platforms. So far, I have found it eliminates this hunt for something to watch on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime or Criterion (and it occurs to me that I should share all of this with you in a post and will probably do that in the next post after my walk). “Pixote” was on the list for yesterday, and honestly, I was gonna pass on it. By the time I was ready to watch it, it was late. But, I said “fuck it” and put it on, and boy howdy I’m glad I did. This is one of the best movies I’ve seen probably since “Roma,” and a must watch film if you have Criterion Channel.

The first thing about this film is that it doesn’t go any of the places you think it should go. The film takes place in Brazil and follows a group of misfit boys as they get through the hell of living in a rehabilitation center for troubled youth that might as well be a prison for children. There are some truly shocking scenes in the first half of the film. Things that are beyond taboo that would more than likely never show up in any film today (This movie was released in the early 1980s). It’s that raw reality that makes this picture really stand out to me, and it’s that unflinching sense of the real world that keeps the momentum of the film up in a way that few films do. This movie is not out to shock the audience, but rather, to show exactly what was happening and what kids had to go through in this facilities, but then has the intelligence to humanize and make us care about these kids without melodrama. Pixote, the title character is a small boy who uses his street smarts to keep ahead of the curve (look up the actor who played Pixote, Fernando Ramos De Silva after you watch the film and be further shook by his real life fate and how it relates to the character he plays). He gets with a group of boys who form a bond that gets them through. I don’t want to talk about the story too much because there is so much to be discovered, however, the journey these kids take is such a roller-coaster of emotions; you’ll be heartbroken in one scene, and feel liberated in others. I don’t think I’ve seen such a human film ever in all my 33 years. A film that moved me, one that made me happy, sad, angry and down right made me utter “awww” out loud.

I don’t really have much else to say about the movie. One thing I will touch on is the gay themes in the film. There are a few of the boys who are gay (and one Lilica who is a cross dresser and who may or may not be transgender) and we see some very taboo relationships happening between the boys, and later between Lilica (who’s underage) and an adult. There’s at least a few scenes of sexual assault, and some of the men that run the facility are very clearly homophobic. What I will say is the film is great about no sugar coating anything, so while these various depictions are very uncomfortable, they fit within the narrative almost to a level that haunting. I won’t go so far as to say this is an essential LGBTQ film and I wouldn’t call it queer cinema (and that probably has more to do with director Hector Babeneco not being a gay man himself) but I was very impressed at just how matter-of-fact the film was on the topic of gay boys, and particularly, gay boys that are in a worse situation because they’re gay. I also really loved just how accepting the kids were of homosexuality. Lilica is a complex character that really gives the story a perspective that’s usually missing in these types of films, and I really appreciated that.

Okay. I’m going to write out a post with a bunch of films to watch, and will have maybe a few lines to say on each. Stay tuned. Brb.