Brazilian director Gabe Klinger's "Porto" is an examination of two expatriates finding each other in the picturesque town of Porto, Portugal. It raises the question of what constitutes a relationship between two people, as opposed to a one-night stand. The answer is that it's in the eye of the beholder.
An American, Jake (the recently, tragically deceased Anton Yelchin), and a French woman, Mati (Lucie Lucas), see each other from a distance at an archaeological dig. She is working on the dig with a group of young students, while he is performing hard labor. Later, on a train platform, they spot each other again. Finally, Jake wanders into a bar/restaurant at night. Mati is sitting alone on the other side of the place. He walks to her table and sits down. And so it begins.
Within minutes, she asks him to leave with her and they stroll towards her new apartment, stopping periodically to kiss. On the way, they stop at her car and carry boxes to her place. He goes back and forth, practically running with the boxes, in anticipation of sex.
Klinger tells the story in repeated flashbacks, so that we don't know for sure what will happen in her apartment until late in the film. When we finally do learn what will transpire that evening, it's pretty hot. It's actually quite electric, and that's the point, but what does this passionate evening mean to each of the participants?
It took me a long time to care at all about any of this and I found it pointless and boring for quite a long time, but I admit that it wore me down because of its unusually effective direction, its beautiful settings throughout the seaside of Porto, and the strong performances of both Yelchin and Lucas. Jake is so odd that it makes no sense that the beautiful Mati is so interested, at first, but her past, once it is finally revealed, offers a possible explanation.
"Porto" is an extremely unusual film because it manages to turn an initially boring, frustrating, and incoherent piece into something I wanted to understand better as it went along. It's rare that my opinion can change so much within a film. I already mentioned what I liked about it, but what really made it worthwhile to me was the performance by Yelchin. It left me sad, knowing that his career came to such a tragic end, and I wonder if there might be a posthumous award on the horizon.
| Movie title | Porto |
|---|---|
| Release year | 2016 |
| MPAA Rating | NR |
| Our rating | |
| Summary | Anton Yelchin's final appearance on the big screen is a must-see in an otherwise pretty good take on a very unusual romance. |
