Aquarius (2016)
88%RT Audience Score: 78%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Led by a powerful performance from Sônia Braga, Aquarius uses a conflict between a tenant and developers to take an insightful look at the relationship between space and identity
Aquarius is a film that will make you want to move to Brazil just to live in Sonia Braga’s gorgeous apartment by the sea. The movie is a clever political allegory that also manages to be a leisurely character study, thanks to Braga’s awe-inspiring performance. The intrusions into her life are filmed like a thriller, which only adds to the simmering tension that explodes in the powerful third act. Overall, Aquarius is a dense and richly textured film that is definitely worth a watch.
Production Company(ies)
Produzioni Europee Associate, Arturo González Producciones Cinematográficas, Constantin Film
Distributor
Vitagraph Films
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
TV-14
Year of Release
2016
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Stereo
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Aspect ratio:1.78 : 1
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Runtime:2h 25m
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Language(s):
-
Country of origin:Brazil, France
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 14, 2016 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 14, 2017
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Aquarius, drama, Portuguese (Brazil), Kleber Mendonça Filho, Saïd Ben Saïd, Emilie Lesclaux, Michel Merkt, Walter Salles, Carlos Diegues, Sonia Braga, Maeve Jinkings, Humberto Carrão, Carla Ribas, Zoraide Coleto, Irandhir Santos, box office, budget, reviewed by Namrata Joshi, Tara Brady, Ryan Gilbey, Mark Kermode, Jonathan Romney, Kate Muir, Aaron Pinkston, Film Companion Staff, Dustin Chang, Nicholas Bell, Grant Watson, Laura Davis, MPAA rating, tenant, developers, space, identity, music critic, apartment, Recife, Brazil, Dolby Digital, Vitagraph Films, sound mix
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Maeve Jinkings – Ana Paula
Humberto Carrão – Diego
Carla Ribas – Cleide
Zoraide Coleto – Ladjane
Irandhir Santos – Roberval
Kleber Mendonça Filho – Director/Writer
Saïd Ben Saïd – Producer
Emilie Lesclaux – Producer
Michel Merkt – Producer
Walter Salles – Producer
Carlos Diegues – Producer
Director(s)
Kleber Mendonça Filho
Writer(s)
Kleber Mendonça Filho
Producer(s)
Saïd Ben Saïd, Emilie Lesclaux, Michel Merkt, Walter Salles, Carlos Diegues
Film Festivals
Cannes, Toronto
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (112) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (109) | Rotten (3)
Sonia Braga is awe-inspiring.
July 24, 2018
Namrata Joshi
The Hindu
TOP CRITIC
This clever, nuanced drama doubles as a political allegory concerning Brazilian corruption. But it would matter, regardless. A dawning, as the similarly-titled song has it.
April 26, 2017 | Rating: 5/5
Tara Brady
Irish Times
TOP CRITIC
Aquarius is a leisurely character study that is also urgently political in its treatment of race, class and commerce.
March 29, 2017
Ryan Gilbey
New Statesman
TOP CRITIC
A performance of tremendous wit, vitality and lusty defiance by Snia Braga drives Brazilian film-maker Kleber Mendona Filho’s remarkable second feature.
March 26, 2017 | Rating: 4/5
Mark Kermode
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Without over-explaining, the film suggests that beneath the elegance of Boa Viagem and, by implication, respectable Brazilian society, there runs an undertow of filth.
March 24, 2017
Jonathan Romney
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
Sonia Braga is wonderful as a retired music writer who lives alone in a gorgeous old apartment by the sea in Recife, Brazil.
March 23, 2017 | Rating: 4/5
Kate Muir
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Filho films their intrusions in the manner of a thriller, situating us in a limited point-of-view that heightens intrusions to the frame or sound design without fully explicating them.
January 4, 2021
Aaron Pinkston
Battleship Pretension
One of the finest Brazilian films of the last decade.
October 28, 2020
Film Companion Staff
Film Companion
Dense and richly textured, Aquarius works as a strong anthropological study of changing society…
July 17, 2020
Dustin Chang
ScreenAnarchy
This subtle cauldron, divided into three distinct segments, sets on simmer until a powerful third act sets the anger ablaze.
October 2, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
This is an intelligent, carefully measured drama boasting multiple layers of story and emotion.
May 20, 2019 | Rating: 9/10
Grant Watson
Fiction Machine
Aquarius is a middling effort let down by some unresolved metaphors, but redeemed by Sônia Braga’s verve.
March 5, 2019 | Rating: 3/5
Laura Davis
One Room With A View…
Plot
Los Angeles, 1967. Welcome to the Summer of Love. Aquarius stars David Duchovny as Sam Hodiak, a seasoned homicide detective whose investigations dovetail with the activities of real life cult leader Charles Manson in the years before he masterminded the most notorious killings of a generation, the Tate-LaBianca murders. A small time but charismatic leader with big plans, Manson has begun to build up his “family”, recruiting vulnerable young men and women to join his cause. Teaming up with a young cop who will help him infiltrate Manson’s circle, Hodiak is forced to see things through the questioning eyes of someone who came of age amongst the current anti-establishment counterculture. Edgy, addictive and visually stunning, the Age of Aquarius is here.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Sônia Braga delivers a “powerful performance” in Aquarius, according to Fresh Kernels.
Kleber-Mendonça-Filho.jpg
