Alien Nights

Sergio de Carvalho's 2023 Brazilian film is set in an Amazon city near the Peruvian and Bolivian borders. Changes in trafficking routes brought a new form of violence to the city, and three young men who were childhood friends find themselves on different sides of that order. The film is in three sections, each given to one character. The same events are seen from different views, and who is guilty and who is a victim changes as the sections change. Carvalho comes from theatre and this shows in the acting and the rhythm of the dialogue. Local performers were used and the speech stays with the region's own idiom. The Amazon appears here as a city rather than as nature. Who it's for: those who like contemporary Brazilian cinema and regional narratives. Who it's not for: viewers uncomfortable with graphic violence; the film shows executions and prison scenes directly.