VISUAL ARTS

Directed by Joaquim Sapinho. With Pedro Sousa, Joana Barata, Sofia Grillo
Portugal 2011, digital video, color, 116 min. Portuguese with English subtitles
A meditative study of loneliness and longing, the latest film by Joaquim Sapinho (b. 1964) tells the story of a brother and sister coming to terms with the dissolution of their family. A former champion surfer who spends his days in pursuit of the most dangerous waves, the young man is torn between the Estoril beaches and the nearby monastery where he has recently taken his first vows. With This Side of Resurrection Saphino offers a minimalist and elemental fable about faith, using poetic montage to boldly juxtapose the surging drama of the sea with the cloistered worlds of the monastery. A former student of Reis, Sapinho reveals the influence of his mentor in the innate communication between his characters and their environment, between the surfer and the seascapes that both inspire and threaten to destroy him.