FISH DREAMS (Brazil)

In a seaside village in the Northeast of Brazil, Jusce, a 17 year old fisherman, dreams of owning his own boat and conquering the beautiful and elusive Ana. She dreams of traveling and moving to the city so she can live like the characters in the soaps she watches daily on a small b&w set. Jusce and his friends (including a long-haired German they call "Gringo") fish for sting ray and also lobster, which is illegal and dangerous. Jusce lives alone since his father died, presumably while diving deep for lobster. He's saving money to buy a motor and planks to fix a boat. When Rogerio returns from the city with a car, Jusce is forced to find a way to compete for Ana's attention. He takes the money he's saved for the boat, sells his shack, and goes to the city. He returns with a 61' projection TV set.

Fish Dreams is the feature debut of Kirill Mikhanovsky, who was born in Russia and lives in the US. He stretches the simple plot over almost two hours in order to capture life as lived in the gorgeous, remote location. Scenes of locals pushing boats in and out of the sea, sailing, diving, fishing and cleaning the catch reminded me of Four Men on a Raft, the documentary Orson Welles shot in Brazil while The Magnificent Ambersons was being butchered at the studio. The images are that beautiful and authentic. Mikhanovsky pays equal attention to the local leisure activities: the music-making, dancing, drinking, soccer-playing and socializing by the villagers.Fish Dreams is perhaps more of an ethnographic film than a fiction feature. The plot is merely sketched, with very little dialogue scripted (not a bad thing when you use non-professional actors). The film appropriately adopts the bucolic pace of life in this corner of the world but, at 111 minutes, it's too long. The message that the incursion of technology and modernity is nocent to the village is dramatized without a hint of didacticism.