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Diego (Willem Dafoe) is a successful Brazilian film director - who's
hit with the news that he's to die soon unless he undergoes (less than
promising) treatment in the US. So he does what he feels needs to be done
and marries his long-term girlfriend Livia (Maria Fernanda Cāndido), puts
his affairs in order, makes a huge donation to his estranged brother
(Guilherme Weber) as he's to receive his bone marrow, and undergoes
treatment that's nothing if not painful. And while undergoing treatment,
he starts to have weird dreams and visions, including several run-ins with
death himself (Selton Mello), who's actually quite a likeable guy and
according to himself just a wage slave to a higher order. Diego's life is
really hanging on a thread when he meets a young Hindu boy (Rio Adlakha),
who's undergoing the same treatment as himself, and having the young one
as a brother in pain, he finds hope again, and also strength to pull
through just to pull his friend through with him. Once the treatment
takes positive effect, Diego soon becomes a minor celebrity just for being
a survivor. But five years pass until he can be declared in good health
again, and at the end of this his life seems to be more shattered than
ever: Livia leaves him as she's fed up with just taking care of him and
not having a life of her own, he can't perform sexually anymore, and he
continues to have weird visions, just like when he underwent treatment.
And there's no Hindu boy to help him through it all ... Now
nominally, My Hindu Friend is based on a true, autobiographical
story - but in the best sort of way, the film doesn't feel like it, as
director Babenco (whose last film this turned out to be) welcomely stays
away to tell his story as a factual revue but rather uses associative and
at times non-linear storytelling to not so much present the audience with
the as-is but make the emotional undercurrents palpable and thus to give
depth to the on-screen goings-on. Now add to this a very poetic approach
to things coulped with beautiful cinematography and Willem Dafoe at
the top of his game supported by a very solid cast, and you get a very
wonderful and also pretty unusual film that's highly recommended! My
Hindu Friend will have a weeklong theatrical release in the US starting
January 17th 2020
(NY,
LA, Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, Minneapolis, ATL, Phoenix, Houston,
Chicago).
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