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Aquarius

Aquarius

2016
Drama
2h 26m
Clara, a 65 year old widow and retired music critic, was born into a wealthy and traditional family in Recife, Brazil. She is the last resident of the Aquarius, an original two-story building, built in the 1940s, in the upper-class, seaside Avenida Boa Viagem, Recife. All the neighboring apartments have already been acquired by a company which has other plans for that plot. Clara has pledged to only leave her place upon her death, and will engage in a cold war of sorts with the company. (imdb)
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Aquarius

2016
Drama
2h 26m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 61.47% from 348 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(348)
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Rated 01 Sep 2016
70
72nd
KMF's political allegories are all over -- from the class issues to the rotten state of mind of the Brazilian elites --, and he manages to frame them as a both sober and sentimental chronicle about Recife. He zooms in and out reshaping the urban tension of Neighboring Sounds in a more personal and intimate scale. Sonia Braga shines in different levels -- she is strong, bright and fragile -- while the film is eager to narrate her memory -- in three parts, hair, love and cancer.
Rated 24 Dec 2017
81
80th
After a confusing opening, this fairly conventional character drama just got better and better as it went on. Sonia Braga's performance as the stubborn, rational widow produces one of the most memorable film characters of the year. While her ding-dongs with the property developer are nothing revolutionary, the way you are gradually drawn into her life, her family and her history is a fantastic piece of character building. There's little to the film besides her - but how brightly she shines.
Rated 26 Jan 2017
90
88th
Braga is at the center of this fantastic film that explores the value of memory, history, and physical culture in the face of "Progress!" and "Development!" The whole thing is beautifully shot, but it was the final third that stood out most to me, as the film, at a formal level, begins to create a tension, a dread, and a feeling that everything is unraveling, all of which work as Filho draws out the relationship between capitalism and the everyday people that live in it.
Rated 01 Jan 2017
90
93rd
Great, multi-layered movie about politics, memory & gender. Clara's struggle & dignity against construction firm & ageism around her presents a strong political consciousness against neoliberalism's cruelty. KMF's subtly detailed superb shots & bold style say a huge FUCK YOU to the conventions of contemporary cynical arthouse babble. His zooms and affective montage makes this a strong allusion to Cinema Novo, as the memory of Brazilian cinema, like Clara's home and memories. Phenomenal cinema!
Rated 05 Oct 2019
94
89th
Beautifully crafted and leisurely paced character study uses its 2 1/2 hours to give the viewer an intimate and closely observed look at Braga's Clara living her life, dealing with family and subtly pushing back on forces attempting to rob her of her home and history. Built on Braga's magnificent performance combining stony stubbornness and fiery, earthy passion, this is quite a journey; arguably too dogmatic and didactic at times, but wears its good, sympathetic heart on its sleeve proudly.
Rated 09 Oct 2017
63
71st
An essay into being old, being a woman and being subject to an untrammelled power. As a film it has some highly moving moments, but a couple of scenes go on a little bit too long. Braga dominates the film, as intended
Rated 19 Jun 2017
7
4th
Romântico. Signo: Leão. Espiritualidade: Comunista reaça.
Rated 20 Apr 2017
40
28th
Aquarius starts great, the story looks flawless in the first part but throughout the second and third parts lost its charm. Also his criticisms becomes very apparent and very cheap. Beside that, the whole movie waits the final 5 minutes to explode the movie's philosophy and this explosion is very weak for a 150 minutes slow-paced drama.
Rated 23 Oct 2018
82
83rd
Beautiful film with a perfect lead. This one was a real surprise
Rated 27 Nov 2017
5
19th
excellent direction and cinematography, but I didn't really find the script interesting or this lady likeable enough
Rated 26 Apr 2017
60
89th
Stand your ground Sonia Braga! She refuses to be intimidated into moving, regardless of tactics the sleazy corporates use on her! Takes a while before it gets going, but the second half of the film is really good. Almost wish they'd continued a while longer as they'd finally started kicking back.
Rated 22 May 2016
6
34th
Jezus, what a selfish, self-righteous mule.
Rated 08 Jan 2017
50
5th
After so many positive reviews, maybe I saw the film expecting too much. It is extremely slow-paced, with monotonous dialogues, many of them seeming completely out of context. Out of the blue sex scenes which, in my opinion, were of very little taste and added nothing to the plot. In the last scene, I expected a life changing speech, but the result was disappointing. An extremely overrated film.
Rated 19 Sep 2017
52
38th
I was really looking forward to this based on all the praise, but the film left me lukewarm. I didn't really feel that this story required it's massive run-time to tell the story and could have been seriously trimmed. It's biggest assets for me were the glimpses of Brazilian life, Sonia Braga's brave performance -- and as a fan of music of vinyl it was a joy how Clara's record collection was an integral part of the film.
Rated 09 Nov 2016
80
37th
Viewed October 30, 2016. Languid, carefully observed human drama, built out of great moments and tiny formal surprises - brief and beautiful camera movements, important details tucked away in the corners. Sonia Braga's performance is rich and lovely. Both her character and this world are so layered that the film never ceases to find new details to explore. Not urgent, but still pointed.
Rated 06 May 2018
75
59th
Haddinden fazla uzun olmasa ne anlatmak istediğini iyi bilen bir film. Uzunluğunun sebebi de çok fazla konuya aynı anda değinmeye çalışma çabası. Yönetmenin bazı teknik tercihleri çok hoşuma gitmese de genel olarak duru ve net bir anlatımı var.
Rated 12 Nov 2018
3
36th
love how her present is so tangibly attached to and lovingly textured by her past, but the underlying premise is facile compared to i.e. TABU. the deck is fully stacked toward the demonised neoliberal cliché vs. the idealised '70s liberal cliché, and by that final righteous mic drop all complexity is overridden by filho's palpable anger, which made earlier hints of trickier angles (the fates of the other ex-tenants, family tensions, clara's oblivious privilege, etc) seem disingenuous to me.
Rated 17 Feb 2019
81
97th
Complicated, mysterious, multifaceted, clever, expansive. Both observant and imaginative, a testament to the importance of selfishness and the importance of empathy; unique in ways which risk belying the heft of the whole if singled out. See it at multiple points in your life.
Rated 12 Dec 2019
65
52nd
disappointment after how good neighboring sounds was and how much praise this got. it's not bad of course, but too long and boring in parts, and since it's so attached to Braga's character and we're supposed to root for her it was a little bit of an obstacle that she was kinda unlikable
Rated 02 Sep 2021
82
70th
Estreava há 5 anos no Brasil. Como lembrou o Kleber ontem, a estreia foi concomitante ao Golpe que o Brasil sofreu em 2016. Kleber parece sempre estar no zeitgeist, aconteceu a mesma coisa com Bacurau e a eleição de 2018 e é presente em O Som ao Redor, esse eterno retorno, essa coisa cíclica da canalhice das elites brasileiras. O que mais entristece ao ver esse filme hoje é que a gente ainda tá na merda, só piora a cada dia e não tem previsão de melhora. Blu-ray Imovision.
Rated 18 Feb 2023
80
86th
Great storytelling by Filho, masterful cinematography, well aligned music and fantastic acting by Braga. There is a subtle tension and mystery in certain scenes. Story told in such a non-intrusive way is what adds lots of value to this movie.
Rated 27 Jan 2024
80
68th
A little too neat and tidy at the end, but I really enjoyed the journey

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