Long Way Home
(Temporada)

Juliana (a role that Grace Passô renders with remarkable modesty) moves alone to the metropolitan town of Contagem near Belo Horizonte, to work in a local sanitation centre as a health officer in the combat against dengue fever. The weather is fine, the residents hospitable, her colleagues welcoming and generous. But here, a shoot-out can erupt in broad daylight, the colonies of mosquitos hidden in nooks and crannies remain invasive, the salary is low and the husband that Juliana is waiting for gives her less and less news. The sun-filled framing of Long Way Home veils a cloudier interiority, which lends André Novais Oliveira’s second feature film its very specific beat, a melody of floating notes underpinned by a counter-theme of low beats. As the story of a change of life, of the possibility of surpassing oneself, Long Way Home may have the look of a feel-good movie but it sings its song in appearance only. Aisha Rahim