Locarno, Switzerland — Renown for his pioneering Brit multi-platform fiction (“Sofia’s Diary”) and a show-runner on youth TV series and movies, with “Gabriel,” the prolific Nuno Bernardo returns to his native Portugal for his feature film directorial debut and one of his most personal fictions.
The narrative base is classic prize-fighting fantasy. “ It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward,” Rocky says somewhere in his series.
“Gabriel” begins with the titular character, a black teen Cape Verde immigrant, on the receiving end of a tremendous whupping, delivered by a cock-sure preening white fighter Rui. Why Gabriel isn’t even bothering to defend himself is one question, answered as the film flashes back a few months to the kid arriving at his aunt’s place in the high-rise Lisbon immigrant quarter of Olivais. He’s there to find his father,...
The narrative base is classic prize-fighting fantasy. “ It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward,” Rocky says somewhere in his series.
“Gabriel” begins with the titular character, a black teen Cape Verde immigrant, on the receiving end of a tremendous whupping, delivered by a cock-sure preening white fighter Rui. Why Gabriel isn’t even bothering to defend himself is one question, answered as the film flashes back a few months to the kid arriving at his aunt’s place in the high-rise Lisbon immigrant quarter of Olivais. He’s there to find his father,...
- 8/7/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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