Seashore | Beira-Mar (2015)
Seashore | Beira-Mar (2015)
Synopsis (adapted from Wikipedia):
In a trip to the coast of Southern Brazil, old friends Martin (Mateus Almada) and Tomaz (Maurício José Barcellos) are united in the task that Martin has; seek documents requested by his father, which are with relatives who reside on the coast. Enclosed during the weekend in a small coastal town in the winter, the two young men seek to reconnect their old friendship and end up making new discoveries.
Review:
I’m very conflicted by this Brazilian film, written and directed by Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon. It’s largely slow-paced, unfocused and with a plot that is at times uninteresting. However, the film has a nice aesthetic and some nice themes do develop throughout as the two main characters, Martin and Tomaz go through individual journeys, and there’s some good cinematography and music. Saying this though, there is a plot twist towards the end of the film which breaks the flow and seems rather disconnected from the rest of the film – and I feel like this lets the film down.
Seashore | Beira-Mar, follows old friends Martin and Tomaz as they travel to collect some family documents for Martin’s father, following the death of Martin’s granddad. We are led to believe that the boys don’t see that much of each other anymore, and there’s a tension between them, as if they used to be much closer, but now they don’t know each other so well.
We learn that Martin is dominated by his father, as Martin tells a story of why he is uncomfortable around the beach. When he was a child he got lost at the beach and had to be looked after by some lifeguards. Martin’s father was furious at him and when they got home, he beat him as punishment. His father is alienated from the rest of the wider family, who Martin has been sent to collect the documents from. Martin begins to feel guilt for this separation, even though it was his father’s fault and not his own. Martin starts to resent his father for causing this disconnect and he starts to free himself from his father’s control by deciding not to deliver the document. He realises that he has other people around him who do not make him afraid to go to the beach, and he learns to no longer fear his father as he has other family now.
Tomaz on the other hand is gay and is struggling to work out how to tell his old friend. We learn that he has a partner back home and there are hints that Tomaz may have, or have previously had, feelings for Martin. In one sequence, the two boys host a house party with friends and when Martin seems more interested in the girls, Tomaz seems a bit jealous. Tomaz ends up kissing one of the girls at the party but gets drunk so that he doesn’t have to do anything further with her. He also watches Martin hook up with one of the other girls. Tomaz is an interesting character, he’s quiet and likes drawing (in his book and also on the walls of toilet cubicles), but he’s also a bit more out there than Martin – in a game of truth or dare Tomaz gets his hair dyed blue.
There’s a nice scene where Tomaz and Martin go for a walk. They sit and Martin asks Tomaz about his boyfriend, even though Tomaz hadn’t told him yet or said that he was gay. Martin reassures him it’s cool and that he could’ve told him earlier. It’s a genuine scene of a friend telling another friend that he can be himself and that he doesn’t have to hide anything. Tomaz looks guilty and can’t hold eye contact – he’d so wanted to come out but didn’t know how. This scene captures well how it can feel coming out, and how even when a friend accepts you, you can still feel a bit ashamed.
Until the final fifteen minutes I very much thought this film was about Tomas working out how to come out to his old friend, and Martin gaining freedom from his controlling father. However, there’s a plot twist near the end which I didn’t see coming. It feels like it came a little bit out of nowhere and I don’t particularly think it was foreshadowed. I give my thoughts on this plot twist in the ‘Other observations’ section below, but I feel like it slightly takes away from the message of the film. To me this was a film about two old friends finding themselves and rebuilding a faded friendship – and it should have been left as that.
Favourite Quote:
“How does it feel to kiss a guy?” - Martin
“I don’t know. I like it” - Tomaz
“I know that.” - Martin
“How come you had never noticed it before, man? - Tomaz
"You could’ve told me” - Martin
“It’s different” - Tomaz
Tone: Chill
Score: 5/10
Other observations:
On the plot twist: The two boys are drinking on the sofa and listening to music. Tomaz flirts with Martin a little bit, and Martin asks Tomaz some questions about being gay and his boyfriend. It’s a nice scene, seeing two friends being their true selves – Martin is liberated from his father and Tomaz can now be open about himself and his sexuality.
On Tour by Kurt Vile is played in this scene and it works perfectly with the atmosphere.
However, the two boys then kiss out of the blue and have sex – while there’s a bit of flirtation leading up to this, I still don’t really feel any sexual chemistry in this scene before that point. I can feel friendship chemistry rather than sexual chemistry between the two, so it doesn’t really fit for me. The camera angles used on the sofa scene do suggest a sort of drunken tension, implying something might happen, but I still don’t think the two getting together is necessary for the story or its messages.
I do like the final scene though where Martin overcomes his fear of the beach and walks into the sea, symbolically breaking free from his father.
I also like how this film captures the timeless boredom of a seaside town out of season, and I like the sounds of the sea and the wind throughout the film.
Also, the blue hair really suits Tomaz…