Drained

Lourenço runs a pawnshop. People tell him the story behind the things they bring; he does not listen and always offers the lowest price. He has two fixations: the backside of a woman working in the restaurant opposite, and a smell coming from the drain in the shop's toilet. The film moves between the two. Heitor Dhalia directs. Selton Mello plays Lourenço. The source is Lourenço Mutarelli's novel; Mutarelli also appears briefly in the film. The structure is not a plot but an accumulation. The same scene plays repeatedly: someone comes in, wants to sell something, and is humiliated. The only thing that changes is how much further the man has deteriorated. The repetition is deliberate. The film stands outside the realist social drama common in Brazil at the time and works as a character study. The problem is not society, it is him. Selton Mello's performance carries it and is cited among the most discussed roles in Brazilian cinema. The smell is never explained, and not explaining it is the idea. The drain is set up as a metaphor and the film refuses to resolve it. Who it is for: viewers who like Brazilian independent cinema and uncomfortable character portraits. Who it is not for: the film is repellent on purpose, the female characters are used largely as objects of looking, and the narrative arrives nowhere.