O filho da puta (Son of a Bitch) – Screening

Desperate to escape the shadow of his mother, proprietor of the local brothel, young Ismael dusts off an old copy of Moby Dick and sets out in search of his own white whale — the father he never knew. The journey puts him in the path of a gaggle of odd strangers carrying skeletons of their own, each in the midst of redefining what home, and family, mean to them.

Son of a Bitch is rough and brash, a foul-mouthed coming-of-age story unafraid of exploring the sometimes violent realities of life. Helmed by four Brazilian directors with wit and talent in spades, Ismael’s odyssey takes him across the backlands of Minas Gerais in stylistic strokes of black and white, immediately reminiscent of the woodcut imagery characteristic of the country’s cordel literature. Son of a Bitch keeps with this folk tradition, always moving with a vigor and musicality that feels distinctly alive and indistinguishable from its land of origin.