Toll

Carolina Markowicz's 2023 Brazilian film follows a woman working in a toll booth. Suellen collects fees on the road to the coast and sees her son Tiquinho's being gay as a problem she wants to solve by sending him to an expensive conversion camp. To find the money she starts passing information to a gang that robs the drivers going through her booth. The film runs the two lines together and describes her without making her a monster; she believes she is protecting her son and her church circle tells her she is right. Tiquinho's own life and his stage performances are the counterweight. The tone moves between black humour and drama and the ending offers no relief. Maeve Jinkings's performance is at the centre. Who it's for: viewers who like Latin American independent cinema and uncomfortable drama. Who it's not for: anyone who does not want conversion therapy treated closely; the film concentrates on it.