It is 1970 in Brazil. The Paivas — mother, father, children, always with friends visiting their beach-adjacent house in Rio de Janeiro — go on about their comfortable, sunny, windblown lives. They’ve drawn up plans for a new home.
The eldest child is heading to London. Rubens, the amiable, apparently unconcerned father played by Selton Mello, is an engineer. He was also a leftist congressman who fled the country after the 1964 military coup, rejoining his family when he thought things had quieted down.
They hadn’t. The story of “I’m Still Here,” based on a memoir by Marcelo Paiva, may be instigated by the sudden disappearance of Rubens. But director Walter Salles’ sensitive, beautifully acted docudrama belongs to Eunice, the parent trapped in limbo, not knowing if her husband is alive or dead, determined to maintain a sense of family order and protection in a nation dealing with perceived enemies of the state in brutal, deadly fashion.
Much of “I’m Still Here” plays out in ways that may be new, and fresh, to American audiences accustomed to more overt viciousness and ferocity in the storytelling and imagery. But this is a narrative of waiting, and living while the unknowns are the only things known. The movie belongs to Eunice, portrayed with regal but human-scaled bravery by the superb and Oscar-nominated Fernanda Torres.
Salles’ film also received nominations this week for best international film and, importantly, best picture. Salles is a poet of ve.
