Recipient of a special jury mention in the Tribeca Festival’s tricky-to-define Viewpoints category, Walter Thompson-Hernandez’s debut “Kites” gently asks the audience to meet the project on its own terms.
At the outset, an intertitle announces that “Kites” is based on a true story, and the first images are newsreel footage of the murder of a few young men by the police In Brazil. Then the film takes a swerve. A belief in guardian angels isn’t necessary to enjoy it, but faith that a violent world sometimes needs a little magical realism is essential. Ostensibly a story about strife in the gritty Rio de Janeiro favelas, the film becomes a sweet and earnest parable about one man trying against all odds to offer his community some respite from the injustice that engulfs it.
Duvo (Daniel Fernando do Prado Dorea Lima) is a small-time hustler trying to make a buck in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. He can’t escape gang life, despite trying to start anew with his partner, Larissa (Larissa Borges). In the first leap of faith “Kites” asks of its audience, Phil (Phillipe Augusto da Silva Souza), a comrade of Duvo’s who has been murdered by the police, appears to him as an angel, with big white wings sprouting from his back. Phil questions Duvo’s motives, encourages him to lead a better life and acts as his counsel. When a children’s kite festival in the favelas is canceled, Duvo resolves to reinstate it as a way of proving to Phil — and to himself — that he can act magnanimously in the interest of others and not just for his own selfish needs.
Elsewhere, Duvo doesn’t notice that Larissa has a separate life from him. While she knows of his many casual indiscretions, she understands it comes with this life. She has a secret of her own: Larissa is in love with another woman. In a scene where she paints her nails with her girlfriends and they talk of love and relationships, her face lights up talking of falling in love. The scene sweetly balances the conflict and arguments that arise whenever Duvo meets with his male friends, as if to suggest that feminine energy can be akin to angels watching over everybody.
As the story progresses, additional guardian angels appear to take care of other characters. “Kites” is built around the romantic and hopeful idea that everyone has an otherworldly being looking after them. It’s refreshing that these spirits do not necessarily have anything to do with religion. Rather, they are people whom the characters once knew and loved, only now they are no longer among the living. These angels all have a warm presence and their glow does not dim, even if they speak mostly in platitudes.
Thompson-Hernandez’s script is told in a clear and straightforward way, making it easy to follow “Kites” and to understand all its subtexts. However, the first-time director is less successful in crafting characters. Only Duvo appears fully rendered. Others get lost in the background with no distinctive personalities. Larissa comes across as little more than a romantic being, vacillating between two people, while the kite-flying children (who are at the center of the narrative, since Duvo feels responsible for them) never appear as more than a collective. Their purpose is to drive the plot forward, as opposed to being treated as individuals with their own hopes and dreams.
“Kites” shows the angels in a unique and startingly simple visual style. Whenever they appear, they are filmed against a static, painted blue-sky background, obviously hand-drawn — a style choice that injects a dash of reality to such a fantastical element. There are also gorgeous scenes of life in Rio, especially at night. Cinematographer Michael Fernandez beautifully lights the many Black and brown faces, which fill “Kites” with evocative shadows and memorable silhouettes.
With “Kites,” Thompson-Hernandez demonstrates that he can balance multiple genres within a single narrative. The film is both gritty and realistic, like the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, while also being a sweet story with surreal touches. He sets the film in a violent place but doesn’t show much of that brutality on screen. Instead, “Kites” plays like a counterbalance and a healing mechanism.
variety.com
#Sweet #Leap #Fantasy #Set #Streets #Rio
