Good Luck

Carolina Jabor's 2014 Brazilian film opens with João, a teenager committed to a psychiatric clinic over his behaviour. There he meets Judith; she is older, her illness has progressed, and both of them know she does not have long. The relationship that forms is caught between the rules of the clinic and the fact of an approaching death. The film uses the familiar emotional shape of romance built on illness, but constructs Judith not as someone to be pitied but as a person making her own decisions and intervening in the young man's life. Deborah Secco's performance carries that balance. Fernanda Montenegro's supporting presence is also notable. Who it's for: viewers who like Brazilian melodrama and love stories about illness. Who it's not for: anyone who would rather not approach terminal illness and a psychiatric care setting.