A highly unusual short film directed by veteran cinematographer and filmmaker
Ozualdo Ribeiro Candeias, "Lady Vaselina" presents a brief filmed theater, all shot in video format (a novelty for the director) and presented through one-take
where the three actors are all exposed with major close-up that make small changes the more prominent they became in the development of the play. A play
based on Tennessee Williams work, but a very minor work.
Here we follow a tenant who complains about the cockroaches who infest her apartment, and the owner of the place keeps insisting that this isn't actual a bother and demands payment. She mocks the tenant, who is helped by a fellow neighbor, a dreamy poet who defends the lady and makes of forget about her real problems for a while.
Well, it's a strange filmed play that comes out of nowhere but at least it answers some things, it transforms the characters throughout its simple story but doesn't necessarily explains its title. Why in the world that woman uses of vaseline? Weird explaining that she gives and the place's owner keeps on mocking her time and again. Techinically speaking it's a great experience to see the use of focus pulling back and forth with subtelty, going from one face to the other whenever someone is speaking, or other times when we just to get to notice the facial expressions, some emotion, some sadness, anything.
It's all quite good, and there's even an early performance by future director/writer Beto Brant (he was pretty good, I loved his acting here since he brings the hopelessness of that place and the tenant to happier moments).
It's a harmless project, almost like a film graduation project made by a veteran director and it's just fine. However, I don't see much depth to it, some higher relevance as Williams' plays tend to go when showing marginalized members of society and the outcasts who try to survive the best way they can.
But there's a positive note in this exact play, unlike most of his other works who are quite down and sad to follow. 6/10.
Here we follow a tenant who complains about the cockroaches who infest her apartment, and the owner of the place keeps insisting that this isn't actual a bother and demands payment. She mocks the tenant, who is helped by a fellow neighbor, a dreamy poet who defends the lady and makes of forget about her real problems for a while.
Well, it's a strange filmed play that comes out of nowhere but at least it answers some things, it transforms the characters throughout its simple story but doesn't necessarily explains its title. Why in the world that woman uses of vaseline? Weird explaining that she gives and the place's owner keeps on mocking her time and again. Techinically speaking it's a great experience to see the use of focus pulling back and forth with subtelty, going from one face to the other whenever someone is speaking, or other times when we just to get to notice the facial expressions, some emotion, some sadness, anything.
It's all quite good, and there's even an early performance by future director/writer Beto Brant (he was pretty good, I loved his acting here since he brings the hopelessness of that place and the tenant to happier moments).
It's a harmless project, almost like a film graduation project made by a veteran director and it's just fine. However, I don't see much depth to it, some higher relevance as Williams' plays tend to go when showing marginalized members of society and the outcasts who try to survive the best way they can.
But there's a positive note in this exact play, unlike most of his other works who are quite down and sad to follow. 6/10.
