The Asphalt Kiss

Murilo Benício's 2018 Brazilian film is adapted from Nelson Rodrigues's play. Arandir witnesses an accident in the street and goes to help the injured man; the man's last request is a kiss, and Arandir grants it. A journalist photographs the moment. As the story grows, Arandir's marriage, work and standing come apart; the narrative is concerned not with the event but with the story built around it, and his father-in-law's personal grudge enters the affair. The play was written at the end of the fifties and was about how the press manufactures its victim; the adaptation carries that into the present. Lázaro Ramos and Débora Falabella lead. The stage origin is plain: the dialogue is dense and the space narrow. Who it's for: those who like Brazilian theatrical adaptation and drama with media criticism. Who it's not for: viewers expecting something specific to cinema; the film stays largely bound to the structure of the play.