Vanda Duarte is a heroin addict in Lisbon. She and her family live in a crumbling building in the slums. It's a fictional story filmed in the documentary style. It's as realistic as fake gets. I would wonder if I didn't know the truth of the fictionalization. Maybe I would think that this is the real thing. It is rather long at almost three hours. It's basically an experimental film but it's a really good one. I'm willing to sit through the three hours but some of this is a bit too dark. The filmmaker obviously did not want to use too much artificial lighting. There is some great shadow use. The biggest trade-off is that some of this film comes off as a black blank. The setting is terrific. They are using the real places. The drug use looks real although I don't have the experience to judge. All in all, this is good work.
Review of In Vanda's Room
