Amongst Bees

Due the comedy past of the main actor "Fabio Porchat", some of those who watches are up to another funny movie. Wrongly. "Entre Abelhas" is a psychological movie with deep metaphorical content.

You need to open your mind and heart to put yourself in place of the protagonist and feel what he feels and (don't) see what he (doesn't) see.

I went to see it with all prejudice in the world. 1st I'm not a fan of Brazillian cinema, 2nd I don't like the folks who made it.

I know I shouldn't be making generalizations, it's not productive for a healthy discussion, but I feel everything we produce here is either terrible comedies that appeal to the lowest common denominator or terrible socially themed films that have more in common with political pamphlets than actual films. I feared that Entre Abelhas was bound to be both since the group who made it came from a highly popular humorous Youtube channel and are most definitely politically conscious.

So, I'm glad I gave it a chance despite a lot going against it. I was proved wrong about, and in my opinion, I don't think there's a better feeling than having your expectations positively blown away.

It's not perfect, there's still shoehorned humor to be found here, some dramatic moments almost gets ruined by it, but, overall, it has its own identity, transcending the soap opera and ideological nature of Brazillian Cinema.

The film editor Bruno (Fábio Porchat) has just separated from his wife Regina (Giovanna Lancellotti) and his best friend and coworker Davi (Marcos Vera) goes with him to a brothel to celebrate the separation. Bruno is temporarily living with his possessive mother (Irene Ravache) and misses Regina. Out of the blue, Bruno can not see persons that are disappearing. His mother sends him to a psychiatrist (Marcelo Valle) while tries experiments with the attendant of a pizzeria (Luis Lobianco) that is invisible for Bruno. Will he recover his capacity to see people?

"Entre Abelhas" is a Brazilian film with an intriguing plot but lost between unfunny comedy and shallow drama in a pretentious mess. The idea of how people are lonely and the others are becoming invisible in the present days without interaction and only contacting through Internet and social networks is not well used and the opportunity of making a good film is lost. Bruno is depressed, obsessed by his ex-wife and isolating from his acquaintances and the world. He contacts only his friend Davi, his mother, the psychologist and his ex-wife Regina, while the other persons are disappearing, one by one. After the death of his mother, his world collapses and he can not see any person. The characters are not well- developed and the cast is completely wasted. The actress Irene Ravache tries to be funny in the role of Bruno's mother but her attitudes are stupid and annoying. The comedian Fábio Porchat is completely lost performing a dramatic role. Marcos Veras is OK in the role of his amoral friend but Luis Lobianco is only silly. There is no empathy between the viewer and the characters and nobody cares what is happening to Bruno. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Entre Abelhas" ("Among Bees")

I understood this movie as big metaphor about what happens in the mind of someone after a breakup of a long relationship, the drama is not so intense throughout the movie, but subtle and building up over it's duration, eventually reaching a climax towards the end. There are little doses of humour, which are not really that funny, but bring the needed comic relief.

I don't expect this movie to change your life or something like it, but it certainly is worth your time, even more if you want to see good Brazilian movies. By the own nature of this film, the secondary characters are not so important, and this slowly leaves you alone with the main guy and you empathize with him and his dilemma.

Overall, this movie has a neat and original idea, maybe only not explored to it's fullest potential, but it's flaws are part of what it is.

I think most people would give it a 7 out of ten but I give it a solid 8 because I could totally relate with it. (I think you have to relate to the main character to get the most out of it) 8/10