NIGHT FALLS ON São Paulo and it's all kicking off at the gafieira. As samba veterans enjoying their autumn years converge on a dancehall that has likely seen better days, Laís Bodanzky's delicate daisy-chain drama jives along on their trail.
Age is only a number for Cássia Kiss, an ageing wallflower still waiting for a gentleman to take her out on the floor, and for Betty Faria, who still thinks herself a hot mama well into her hot grandmamma years. Some punters dance the tango (Clarisse Abujamra); others sulk that they cannot (Leonardo Villar); some grow cynical with age (Luiz Serra), their contemporaries grow forgetful (Tônia Carrero).
The director's freewheeling Altmanesque meanderings coalesce into an overlapping narrative, which find compliment in Walter Carvallho's nimble handheld cinematography and Elza Soares's loose-limbed score; the celebrated cançãochanteuse belts out at least a dozen musical numbers as a backstreet house singer in the background.
For all the giddy Latin rhythms and heaving bosoms on the dancefloor, there's a slightly jaded quality to the overall presentation. The Ballroomis never a miserablist hangout for hoofers in the manner of They Shoot Horses, Don't They?but there's a touch of Easy Riders, Raging Bullsduring its quieter shuffling moments.
An unintentional and charming live action companheirofor last year's Chico and Rita, Bodansky's second feature creates a place where puppy love never really goes away – it just gets a little more hangdog over time.
The 2008 Brazilian film, an exclusive Access Cinema release in Ireland, opens at the Abbey Centre in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal this Wednesday and will play at venues in Waterford; Skerries, Co Louth; Moate, Co Westmeath; Birr, Co Offaly; Limerick; and Borris, Co Carlow between now and April. Complete playbill and dates are at accesscinema.ie
