Review: Mestiço

Belonging, Bit by Bit

by Guilherme Rodrigues

For Mestiço, physicality is important, both in the way in which people carry themselves in a scene, and in the way in which they interact between each other and for what motive. It is not only the shoulders Victor (Vitor Senra) chooses which indicate his discomfort in a scenario from which he is distant, but also the contrast with the way in which his cousins are displayed: sitting on the sofa, one with his legs over the other and extremely colourful. They stand out, he with green shirt and hair, and she with a yellow top, while Vitor is in white, in front of a white wall.

The protagonist of Mestiço (Brazil, 2024, Première Brasil, Panorama Carioca de Curtas) has recently arrived in Brazil, coming back to live with his father after losing his mother. He is in a house which has not yet become his home, and this strangeness is constantly reinforced. The information about Victor’s return is conveyed almost as gossip, off-screen, without his presence.

Mestiço’s progress is marked by the way in which Victor approaches those around him. Initially, the editing and composition separate him from the others, he always appears alone, observing or being called by people who are out of frame. His first moment of sharing the scenario with someone is with his cousin, but without touching. They chat in a distant, reticent manner, and share a cigarette.

The short uses very Brazilian symbols to explore this adjustment, like a gadget to make a ventilator work, football, a bar with tables on the pavement. The synopsis informs us that the Brazil portrayed is “very different from what is seen in postcards with a view of Christ the Redeemer”, a questionable affirmation, as the scenario of Baixada Fluminense depicted in the film is not often represented on cinema screens, but its elements are not so distant from a generalised image of Brazil, or more specifically Rio de Janeiro: football, little bars, beer in litres, etc.

This is not a problem, as these situations possess a collectivity aligned to Victor’s approach to his new roots. His first incursion in this context is with his father taking him to a Fluminense football match. The patriarch conducts him gently to a street exploding with anticipation of the coming match, chats to a colleague from the Flamengo team, introduces his son, another colleague arrives, another introduction, until a goal ends the small-talk, and the bar explodes in shouts. Deafening noise and lots of people jumping up and down, but the camera does not adhere to the chaos. Victor is in a corner of the frame, watching the excitement, but with a confused expression. He is there, but he is not of that place.

But the belonging arrives, even though initially coming from pain. The last contact with his mother is by means of a document which remains out of frame, the scene only giving him space for tears. Time passes, the situations are repeated, but now with a new content. The wall, previously white, now sports a Fluminense poster, Victor’s pale clothing is exchanged for the team colours, hair full of highlights and a gold chain. It is another match day but no-one escorts him through the streets, it is he who goes to meet people, embracing them, complimenting them, dancing. The boy who stood out from his confusion during the goal and fled from contacts, is now the one who takes photos and dances with everyone, bringing his colour to a space of which he is now a part.