Copacabana Mon Amour

Rogério Sganzerla's 1970 Brazilian film is among the most contrary examples of the udigrudi movement that arose under the military dictatorship. The story of Sônia, working the streets of Copacabana, and her brother is built not as an orderly narrative but as a pile of shouting, advertising sound, improvisation and degraded recording laid over each other. Sganzerla's aim was never to tell a story but to refuse cinema's obligation to be well made; the movement defined itself deliberately through a garbage aesthetic. Helena Ignez's performance is at the centre and is extraordinary. Under censorship, a form this scattered was a political position. It is hard to watch and deliberately uncomfortable. Who it's for: viewers interested in Brazilian experimental cinema and counter-cinema movements. Who it's not for: anyone wanting narrative, or avoiding sexual and violent content.