Tabu

Not to be confused with the same-named 1931 F.W. Murnau classic, Portuguese writer-director Miguel Gomes's Tabu is a two-part story that takes considerable artistic risks, and often, but not always, succeeds. The first part, “Paradise Lost,” set in Lisbon just after Christmas, introduces a cantankerous elderly woman named Aurora (Laura Soveral) who seems to have little contact with reality, and her well-intended neighbor and only true friend, Pilar (Teresa Madruga). When Aurora is hospitalized, she gives Pilar the name and address of a man named Gian Luca Ventura (Henrique Espírito Santo). The second part, “Paradise,” switches to 50 years earlier, during Portugal's colonial occupation in Africa, and is narrated through the recollections of Gian Luca, who was the best friend of Aurora's husband, a farmer whose fortunes were threatened by efforts to bring independence to the Portuguese colonies. The young Aurora (Ana Moreira) and Gian Luca (Carloto Cotta) fall in love, creating an emotional tumult within the growing chaos surrounding them. Gomes structures Tabu with a bare minimum of dialogue and a flourish of artistic touches—most notably moody black-and-white cinematography capturing the lovers' range of emotions and the elderly Aurora's isolation—but the film's style doesn't always work, and the soundtrack's Phil Spector-penned pop tunes are more distracting than dramatic. Still, this interesting experimental film that dares to be different should be considered a strong optional purchase. (P. Hall)