Synopsis
Leonardo is a blind teenager dealing with an overprotective mother while trying to live a more independent life. To the disappointment of his best friend, Giovana, he plans to go on an exchange program abroad. When Gabriel, a new student in town, arrives at their classroom, new feelings blossom in Leonardo making him question his plans.
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Cast
- Ghilherme LoboLeonardo
- Fábio AudiGabriel
- Tess AmorimGiovana
- Lúcia RomanoLaura
- Eucir de SouzaCarlos
- Selma EgreiAvó Maria
- Isabela GuascoKarina
- Victor FilgueirasGuilherme
- Pedro CarvalhoFábio
- Guga AuricchioCarlinhos
Recommendations
- 100
Washington Post
The tale, from Brazilian writer-director Daniel Ribeiro, is told with such tenderness, such intelligence and such aching honesty that it takes on the weight of something far more significant than puppy love. Like its subject, first kisses and best friends, it’s hard to forget. - 80
Empire
Touching and well-acted, Brazil's Best Foreign Film entry is a worthy Oscar candidate. - 80
The New York Times
This winning movie — directed by Daniel Ribeiro, making his feature debut — dexterously weaves the social challenges of adolescence into a story of broader self-discovery. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
Ribeiro’s screenplay, which is marbled with moments of humor as well as emotion, feels extremely well-tuned into the conflicted emotional lives of his adolescent characters, who often retreat into the safety of their childhood comfort zone after every exciting, but also scary, excursion into the adult unknown. - 75
Slant Magazine
What progressively mounts tension is the film's understanding of a boy's gradually realized homosexuality as being inextricable from the central metaphor of compromised vision. - 75
TheWrap
Admirable throughout is the balance that Ribeiro strikes between dewy eroticism and the contextualization of sexuality as just a single aspect of one's identity, albeit an essential one. - 67
The A.V. Club
Ribeiro captures the experiential awkwardness of young love pitch-perfectly. - 60
Time Out London
There are no great upsets or fireworks here, just a tender sketch of what it means to (probably) be gay as a school kid. The storytelling style is as inoffensive as the music (Arvo Pärt, Belle and Sebastian), and the performances are amiable and relaxed.
