Reading the professional reviews you can get he wrong impression about this film but make no mistake: this is one of those cases where you can only fully enjoy and understand its premise if you are immersed in the same reality where the film takes place. This is not like saying that it doesn't carry any universal meaning - it's quite obvious that it has a social discussion along the subtle horror atmosphere it creates... but what kind of discussion? Helena and Otavio are a middle-class Brazilian couple with one daughter. This is important: the person watching this movie without knowing about Brazilian standards of living may not recognize these characters as middle-class but rather poor people which is not the case. Otavio is getting older and lose his job to a younger co-worker. Helena, living the dream of entrepreneurship, opens a grocery store. Along with these two, there's Paula, a maid/baby-sitter who works for the couple. While Helena starts as a sweet and caring person, she turns soar when she starts to see herself as an "owner" and the person bringing money to the house, treating her workers pretty badly, including the maid who's also object of hostility from Otavio's upper middle-class mother. Our middle-class have two main beliefs: meritocracy (a supposedly rationalist organization of society based on merit despite the absurd economic disparity) and superstition (irrationalism). Helena, dealing with the several difficulties of being an entrepreneur, starts to believe that somebody is using dark forces to make her business go down: naturally one of her employees. From then on she gets more and more involved in this search for an explanation that excuses her for the fear of failure on being the owner of a store and the growing tensions with her employees that are product of her growing intransigence. Otavio, on the other hand, fears that he became obsolescent and too old for the market. He starts to become interested on self-help workshops to "empower" himself and "release the beast inside" so he can have a place in the jungle of the marketplace. This is another regional aspect: this kind of stuff is epidemic in Brazil, growing along with the process of deregulation of work and the intensification of precariousness in terms of labor rights and legislation. The message is simple: it's all up to you, whether you succeed or fail. Otavio already sees himself as a failure and the movie ends with an intense image of him shrieking out of desperation along with a bunch of grown men screaming like apes because a inspirational speaker told them to release their "primitive" side. These aspects may clarify the themes of the film in order to not be comprehended simply as a horror movie with social consciousness. It's a highly symbolic work that speaks directly to the Brazilian middle-class about their fears, their fantasies of power and their difficulty to cope with personal failure. For that matter, this a quite interesting and important work that can be enjoyed by all but only fully understood when you know these particular realities.
8 Reviews
Good work but only fully understood with some social background
matheusmagalhaes109 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
A complex, intriguing movie
hof-425 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
The original title is Trabalhar Cansa, or Work Tires You, a somewhat humorous expression translated as Hard Labor. The title suggests a comedy, but this movie is nothing of the sort. The first half is a tragedy happening everywhere today; Otávio, a man in his forties living with his family in Sao Paulo loses his well paid job and becomes unemployable or, at best, a member of the Gig Economy; his options reduce to temporary, low paid jobs below his level of training without security or benefits.
The movie shows the damage to Otávio's self image, and its consequences for Otávio's relation with his wife Helena. Helena was planning to open a grocery store at the time of Otávio's firing. She goes ahead with the idea but difficulties arise some expected, some of a very sinister sort, such as a grisly discovery inside one of the store's walls. At this point the movie veers into the horror genre and we suspect there is an unknown force working against the couple. At the end, we are back with Otávio trying to build up his confidence to find a viable job option and Helena struggling with her business, and we wonder if the horror episode was dreamed or imagined, or if it's a symbol of something hidden in the couple's past.
This movie is hard to watch at times; there is an edgy, uncomfortable feeling in most scenes and a sense of impending doom. The script by directors Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas is first rate, as are acting, production values and direction. A movie to consider.
The movie shows the damage to Otávio's self image, and its consequences for Otávio's relation with his wife Helena. Helena was planning to open a grocery store at the time of Otávio's firing. She goes ahead with the idea but difficulties arise some expected, some of a very sinister sort, such as a grisly discovery inside one of the store's walls. At this point the movie veers into the horror genre and we suspect there is an unknown force working against the couple. At the end, we are back with Otávio trying to build up his confidence to find a viable job option and Helena struggling with her business, and we wonder if the horror episode was dreamed or imagined, or if it's a symbol of something hidden in the couple's past.
This movie is hard to watch at times; there is an edgy, uncomfortable feeling in most scenes and a sense of impending doom. The script by directors Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas is first rate, as are acting, production values and direction. A movie to consider.
Interesting Film Based in the Horror of Adult Realities
Reviews_of_the_Dead12 March 2021
This was a movie I'll be honest, I had never heard of. It popped up for me when I was looking through the Letterboxd top 100 films with a woman director. This one is interesting though as we have a woman co-director. It still counts and I'm making this a Featured Review as part of Women's History month in February. The synopsis here is young housewife Helena (Helena Albergaria) is on the verge of fulfilling a dream as she prepares to open her own business: a neighborhood grocery store. Things don't go as planned and as pressure mounts, Helena has to find a way of making things work.
We start this off with Helena being shown around a building. It doesn't look great and it really a fixer-upper. She is considering it though. When she goes home though, she gets the bad news that her husband of Otávio (Marat Descartes) has lost his job. She tells him that she can put this dream on hold. He instead wants to look over the paperwork.
She ends up renting the space. The two of them clean it up where they find there was a cockroach infestation. There is also an unsightly brick wall that is going to be covered up. To add another big change, they hire Paula (Naloana Lima) to be the nanny to their daughter of Vanessa (Marina Flores).
As the synopsis states though, things don't go as planned. Otávio is going to interviews, but hasn't had any luck in finding a job. Helena hires a staff, but she is distrustful of them. This employee has the name of Ricardo (Thiago Carreira) and he told a customer on their opening day they do not have skim milk. When Helena looks at the invoice of receiving in items, there should be some there. She confronts him about it and he states he will look again. There are other items that the inventory isn't matching up so it makes her think Ricardo is stealing. This causes her to do some other measures to confirm it.
The tension isn't just at work. Paula does some things around the house that bother Helena as well. With Otávio not being able to find work and being too proud to ask for help, the couple is struggling. It also doesn't help that the wall that was put up to hide the brick wall at the store has an unsightly stain on it that keeps getting worse and worse. Running a business is hard work, but Helena is pushed to the limits and there is something not quite right about the building she is renting either.
That is where I'm going to leave my recap for the movie and the where I want to start is that as this ended, I was questioning if this is horror or not. I'll get into what I think makes it that, but this is really a character study of this married couple with the stresses that they are dealing with here.
Where I want to start is with Helena. From what I gather, she comes from money. She has this dream to open up her own grocery store. She has a picture of the place that she is looking at with the former proprietor. His place seemed to be successful back in the day and I'm assuming she thinks that she could make it work by putting in her own grocery store here. What I like is that we really get a true look what it is to run a business. At every turn, Helena is having issues. She believes that Ricardo is stealing from her as the inventory isn't matching up. She can't prove any of this though. She is also having issues with like a pipe backing up and leaking. There is the wall that is rotting. She rubs her employees the wrong way with things like wanting to be open on a holiday. We see that it doesn't work out as well as she hoped and her employees are turning against her in a way.
To continue with this character, there are problems at home as well. She butts heads with her husband regularly. There is a bit of him being emasculated by her bringing in the primary income. I'll get into that, but she gets annoyed with him is what I'll say here. She also convinces Paula to work for her, despite it being under the table and no benefits. When Paula does some important life events with Vanessa, it rubs Helena the wrong way. I feel this is showing how time consuming running a business can be and the strain it is putting on her home life because of it.
As I was alluding to, I want to take this over to Otávio. He loses his job to a younger man. There are multiple times in the movie that it brings up with his age that finding a job is difficult. We see him go to interviews against younger men and even learn later in the movie that jobs are hard to find. For every opening, there are 100 applicants. He does find a commission only job and gets to work from home, but we see his heart isn't in it. He is lost in what he should be doing and a bit prideful when it comes to asking for help.
The last things that I want to delve into here will start with Paula doesn't necessarily need this job. She wants something that is more official, but she sees the need for Helena. She gets treated horrible by Helena's mother from the moment they meet. Helena isn't that nice to her either. It is really only Vanessa and Otávio from this family. The other is the horror aspects. I'll be honest though, these are quite light. There is this dog that keeps barking at the store from outside. This makes Helena uncomfortable. We also see there something that was chained up in the back of the store that left deep and scary scratches on the wall. There is something some thing behind the brick wall that is monstrous. We really don't get enough of this or much an explanation unfortunately.
Since I've really broken down the characters, I'll take it to the acting next. Albergaria does an excellent job. This movie really does fit for being woman appreciation since she is the star here. She is strong, but we see how hard of work this place is wearing on her. I think her performance is really good. Descartes is also really good as her husband. He just looks defeated and we see his plight wear on him as well. Lima does a solid job in her role with how things roll down hill onto her from the stresses in their lives. The rest of the cast does round this out for what was needed as well.
Now really the last things about the movie would be the effects, cinematography and the soundtrack. We don't get a lot of the former, but it isn't that type of movie. Everything is done practically and I think that makes it much creepier. They don't emphasize too much a claw or tooth that is found. Then there is the backroom and what is behind the wall. It made me feel like it could be real. The cinematography is really well done in how the movie was shot. I like getting the monitors of the grocery store to see if I could see anything. It also knows how to focus to make things uncomfortable. The last thing here would be that the soundtrack fit for what was needed as well.
In conclusion, I think that this is a good movie, but I could also see people thinking that nothing really happens. We are getting a look at this marriage between two people who are flipping gender roles and the stresses of their choices. There is also the underlying story of their maid who they don't treat the best. The story is simple, but it is really how the characters handle it. There aren't a lot in the way of effects, but we don't need them. It is shot well and the soundtrack fits. I would rate this as a good movie. If they would have leaned more into explaining the horror elements or giving us more there, I think they would have had a masterpiece. Since they don't, it does lack for me to really go higher.
We start this off with Helena being shown around a building. It doesn't look great and it really a fixer-upper. She is considering it though. When she goes home though, she gets the bad news that her husband of Otávio (Marat Descartes) has lost his job. She tells him that she can put this dream on hold. He instead wants to look over the paperwork.
She ends up renting the space. The two of them clean it up where they find there was a cockroach infestation. There is also an unsightly brick wall that is going to be covered up. To add another big change, they hire Paula (Naloana Lima) to be the nanny to their daughter of Vanessa (Marina Flores).
As the synopsis states though, things don't go as planned. Otávio is going to interviews, but hasn't had any luck in finding a job. Helena hires a staff, but she is distrustful of them. This employee has the name of Ricardo (Thiago Carreira) and he told a customer on their opening day they do not have skim milk. When Helena looks at the invoice of receiving in items, there should be some there. She confronts him about it and he states he will look again. There are other items that the inventory isn't matching up so it makes her think Ricardo is stealing. This causes her to do some other measures to confirm it.
The tension isn't just at work. Paula does some things around the house that bother Helena as well. With Otávio not being able to find work and being too proud to ask for help, the couple is struggling. It also doesn't help that the wall that was put up to hide the brick wall at the store has an unsightly stain on it that keeps getting worse and worse. Running a business is hard work, but Helena is pushed to the limits and there is something not quite right about the building she is renting either.
That is where I'm going to leave my recap for the movie and the where I want to start is that as this ended, I was questioning if this is horror or not. I'll get into what I think makes it that, but this is really a character study of this married couple with the stresses that they are dealing with here.
Where I want to start is with Helena. From what I gather, she comes from money. She has this dream to open up her own grocery store. She has a picture of the place that she is looking at with the former proprietor. His place seemed to be successful back in the day and I'm assuming she thinks that she could make it work by putting in her own grocery store here. What I like is that we really get a true look what it is to run a business. At every turn, Helena is having issues. She believes that Ricardo is stealing from her as the inventory isn't matching up. She can't prove any of this though. She is also having issues with like a pipe backing up and leaking. There is the wall that is rotting. She rubs her employees the wrong way with things like wanting to be open on a holiday. We see that it doesn't work out as well as she hoped and her employees are turning against her in a way.
To continue with this character, there are problems at home as well. She butts heads with her husband regularly. There is a bit of him being emasculated by her bringing in the primary income. I'll get into that, but she gets annoyed with him is what I'll say here. She also convinces Paula to work for her, despite it being under the table and no benefits. When Paula does some important life events with Vanessa, it rubs Helena the wrong way. I feel this is showing how time consuming running a business can be and the strain it is putting on her home life because of it.
As I was alluding to, I want to take this over to Otávio. He loses his job to a younger man. There are multiple times in the movie that it brings up with his age that finding a job is difficult. We see him go to interviews against younger men and even learn later in the movie that jobs are hard to find. For every opening, there are 100 applicants. He does find a commission only job and gets to work from home, but we see his heart isn't in it. He is lost in what he should be doing and a bit prideful when it comes to asking for help.
The last things that I want to delve into here will start with Paula doesn't necessarily need this job. She wants something that is more official, but she sees the need for Helena. She gets treated horrible by Helena's mother from the moment they meet. Helena isn't that nice to her either. It is really only Vanessa and Otávio from this family. The other is the horror aspects. I'll be honest though, these are quite light. There is this dog that keeps barking at the store from outside. This makes Helena uncomfortable. We also see there something that was chained up in the back of the store that left deep and scary scratches on the wall. There is something some thing behind the brick wall that is monstrous. We really don't get enough of this or much an explanation unfortunately.
Since I've really broken down the characters, I'll take it to the acting next. Albergaria does an excellent job. This movie really does fit for being woman appreciation since she is the star here. She is strong, but we see how hard of work this place is wearing on her. I think her performance is really good. Descartes is also really good as her husband. He just looks defeated and we see his plight wear on him as well. Lima does a solid job in her role with how things roll down hill onto her from the stresses in their lives. The rest of the cast does round this out for what was needed as well.
Now really the last things about the movie would be the effects, cinematography and the soundtrack. We don't get a lot of the former, but it isn't that type of movie. Everything is done practically and I think that makes it much creepier. They don't emphasize too much a claw or tooth that is found. Then there is the backroom and what is behind the wall. It made me feel like it could be real. The cinematography is really well done in how the movie was shot. I like getting the monitors of the grocery store to see if I could see anything. It also knows how to focus to make things uncomfortable. The last thing here would be that the soundtrack fit for what was needed as well.
In conclusion, I think that this is a good movie, but I could also see people thinking that nothing really happens. We are getting a look at this marriage between two people who are flipping gender roles and the stresses of their choices. There is also the underlying story of their maid who they don't treat the best. The story is simple, but it is really how the characters handle it. There aren't a lot in the way of effects, but we don't need them. It is shot well and the soundtrack fits. I would rate this as a good movie. If they would have leaned more into explaining the horror elements or giving us more there, I think they would have had a masterpiece. Since they don't, it does lack for me to really go higher.
Not pretentious at all
marcossarno8 January 2020
Trabalhar Cansa never sets itself to be a horror movie, it doesn't toy with the genre's traditions nor assumes them.
The movie has its own logic, one that respects the greater theme of problematic infrastructural work relations, and does it so by successfully applying its concept to the filmmaking. The cards are all in the table, and the movie plays with them to the maximum effect.
By doing that, the darkness of it all becomes much more evident, necessarily so. What I like about it is that, although I don't consider it to be a horror movie per say (neither some kind of "anti-horror" or "post horror", whatever that means), the movie is never afraid to portray visually dark imagery, because it has the right motivations to do so, perfectly balanced.
The movie only gets so disturbing because its concept and theme is also horrifying. And I felt that a lot, it shows on the character's behaviors (basically every character arc is an identity or sanity loss), it shows on the directing (still images, but beautifully crafted and framed to maximum effect), even on the wardrobe (the maid's character).
I chose to give Trabalhar Cansa (Hard Labor) a 10/10 because it does what I enjoy most about movies, that being the everlasting consciousness, the feeling that the themes effectively affect the filmmaking and vice-versa - it gives me a feeling that exists a thinking person behind the film, thinking every step of the process to get the message accross. Brilliant.
The movie has its own logic, one that respects the greater theme of problematic infrastructural work relations, and does it so by successfully applying its concept to the filmmaking. The cards are all in the table, and the movie plays with them to the maximum effect.
By doing that, the darkness of it all becomes much more evident, necessarily so. What I like about it is that, although I don't consider it to be a horror movie per say (neither some kind of "anti-horror" or "post horror", whatever that means), the movie is never afraid to portray visually dark imagery, because it has the right motivations to do so, perfectly balanced.
The movie only gets so disturbing because its concept and theme is also horrifying. And I felt that a lot, it shows on the character's behaviors (basically every character arc is an identity or sanity loss), it shows on the directing (still images, but beautifully crafted and framed to maximum effect), even on the wardrobe (the maid's character).
I chose to give Trabalhar Cansa (Hard Labor) a 10/10 because it does what I enjoy most about movies, that being the everlasting consciousness, the feeling that the themes effectively affect the filmmaking and vice-versa - it gives me a feeling that exists a thinking person behind the film, thinking every step of the process to get the message accross. Brilliant.
Pretentious bullshit
davilopes-cine21 October 2017
This movie is slower than an European art-house movie. As a horror, it doesn't scare one bit. The dialogue is stiff and the story is very vague. The actual "scary" parts would not scare a 8 year old child that pees in the bed every day and cannot watch the Teletubes cause the songs are too sinister. I could spend two hours just watching my bedroom wall and be more entertained. Watch if you're using drugs.
Labor, class, family, dramatic comedy, horror
guisreis13 June 2022
One more good movie directed by duo Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas, once more traveling and combining multiple genres in an innovative manner. Hard Labor is both a family drama and a film on labor and class, with minor elements of humor, and that is tuning itself increasingly a horror/thriller.
A confused movie
pedrogirardi9 August 2020
While the initial moments of the piece are captivating and relatable to the average Brazilian, the movie is not able to develop a consistent storyline. The ending is one of the worst I have seen. Moreover, many characters lack development.
Not terrible, but certainly not horror
blott2319-112 August 2021
Hard Labor is an extremely straightforward drama about a family struggling with finding work and paying the bills while also opening a new business. Don't let the genre categories on the internet fool you, there's no horror or mystery to be had here, other than the horror of making a living in a difficult job market and the mystery of where you'll find the money to pay the bills. They try to weave in some unusual things going on, but most of that adds nothing to the film. I believe these little dark moments are an attempt at weaving a bit of metaphor into the plot, but that's not really necessary to further the story. On the one hand, I have to compliment the writers/directors on some of the cliched choices they didn't add into the film. There were a few times I thought things would go down an annoying path as the characters made awful life choices, but this simply wasn't that type of movie. On the other hand, I have to criticize the writers/directors because they didn't have much of anything happen in the movie. It's a bland and dull journey that focuses on depressing drama in a way that completely turned me off. I was ready to go along for the ride with Hard Labor, and found myself invested in the story they were telling for part of the runtime, but it was far from a thrill-ride.
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