Portuguese helmer João Pedro Rodrigues returned to Cannes this yr together with his new movie “Will-O’-the-Wisp” (“Fogo Fátuo”), which screened in Administrators’ Fortnight and is his first function for the reason that well-received 2016 madcap journey of self-discovery, “The Ornithologist.”
The movie begins in 2069, with Prince Alfredo on his deathbed, who begins to reminisce about his childhood spent within the King’s Pine Grove in Leiria, close to Lisbon, which was devastated within the 2017 forest fires. Behind him we see Jose Conrado Roza’s enigmatic 18th century portray “The Marriage ceremony Masquerade,” that includes unique, dwarfish figures with black pores and skin and a personality affected by a pores and skin illness, at a marriage ceremony.
After the forest hearth the younger Alfredo decides to hitch the volunteer hearth brigade the place he falls in love with a Black fireman, Afonso.
Rodrigues calls the movie a “musical fantasy.” The homoerotically charged movie establishes metaphorical hyperlinks between the tall erect pine bushes and the male member, together with a love scene between Alfredo and Afonso within the ashes of the burnt forest.
The movie can by no means be accused of being predictable. Its soundtrack consists of a number of types together with a Fado piece, “Embuçado,” that was initially sung by the fado singer João Ferreira Rosa, and youngsters’s songs reminiscent of Carlos Paiao Nineteen Eighties hit “Uma Arvore, Um Amigo” (“A Tree, a Good friend”). In the course of the movie there’s a choreographed dance sequence by male and feminine firefighters.
The pic was produced by Joao Matos, Vincent Wang, Joao Pedro Rodrigues for Home On Fireplace. Worldwide gross sales are repped by Movies Boutique. João Pedro Rodrigues spoke to Selection through the Cannes Competition.
What attracted you to the musical style for this movie?
Each movie is a brand new journey. I at all times attempt to do one thing very completely different and I’ve at all times been within the liberating prospects that we will acquire from exploring conventional genres. This dates again to my coaching within the Lisbon Movie Faculty, after I was continually watching movies. The codes of basic cinema are instruments that we will work with. When desirous about this undertaking, I had at all times needed to make a comedy, which is among the most troublesome genres to work in. What I like essentially the most is comedies from the silent period, reminiscent of Chaplin and Keaton, and additionally later works, such because the movies of Lubitsch and Jerry Lewis. Within the ending of my 2009 movie “To Die Like a Man,” I launched a comic book tone. I needed to make a movie with severe lightness. A melancholic comedy, a comedy laced with tragedy.
The portray by Conrado Roza is a recurrent presence within the movie.
It’s an 18th century Portuguese portray. I solely found it after I had completed the script. Within the first draft there was a portray by Paula Rego. The dwarfish figures with black pores and skin depicted within the portray had been a part of the entourage of the Portuguese Queen Maria I. She collected unique figures round her. This building of opposites attracted me for this movie.
The movie has a particularly eclectic selection of music.
The music was chosen whereas we had been writing the script. It permits us to journey by way of time. For instance after we see the actor Joel Branco singing softly on his dying mattress. I needed to incorporate songs that are re-contextualised within the movie and given a brand new which means. I selected to incorporate Mozart’s “Magic Flute” as a result of Conrado Roza’s portray exhibits a flute participant. The tune by Carlos Paião has nice topical relevance due to the ecological and local weather crises. The fado tune on the finish of the movie, which is sung by Paulo Bragança, has clear royalist undertones. Within the movie it takes on a unique which means. Paulo additionally appeared on the finish of “To Die Like a Man.” He’s a visionary who revolutionized fado within the Nineteen Eighties. I believe it’s crucial to carry individuals who many have already forgotten and present their trendy relevance.
What you on this hypothetical royal household?
I needed to discover the irony that Portugal now not has a monarchy however by way of the movie star magazines it’s as if we nonetheless needed to have one. It’s comparable in Spain the place though they nonetheless have a monarchy, it’s develop into a part of the world of celebrities. I needed to point out an aristocratic household that now not exists. A life past our regular existence. The place the characters create their very own mise-en-scene and are conscious that persons are continually watching them, just like the individuals whose lives are continually proven in movie star magazines. That’s why I present them staring on the digital camera at occasions and closing the doorways, in order that we will now not see them. I needed to point out Alfredo leaving this world of illusions and be part of the hearth brigade, the place his life adjustments. There’s a historic hyperlink between royalty, aristocracy and firefighters and I needed to discover that.
Why did you start the movie in 2069?
It brings an virtually sci-fi dimension. Clearly the selection of that date is a reference to Gainsbourg’s tune, “69 année érotique.” By starting the movie sooner or later, virtually every thing is feasible. For instance, we study that in 2069 Portugal has a black Muslim president. I additionally needed to finish the movie within the brutalist church, the Sacred Coronary heart of Jesus, in Lisbon, which was constructed within the Sixties and designed by Nuno Teotónio Pereira and Nuno Portas. It combines custom with modernity. The church has wood curtains, that I take advantage of in different elements of the movie. These architects had been additionally visionaries. It was conceived prior to now, however seems like the long run. I actually like this facet of brutalist structure and screens that open and shut.
The movie explores an virtually alchemical evolution, with parallels to the chess sport, between black and white.
The movie entails an enormous dose of sarcasm, such because the ironic illustration of the male intercourse. Once we see the younger prince in 2011 he will get an erection when his father talks in regards to the bushes. The intercourse scene between Alfredo and Afonso is about within the ashes. The whole lot has to burn to carry new life. I wrote the script after the 2017 forest fires which was a traumatic second. The pine forest in Leiria was planted within the 13thcentury and its timber was used to construct the Portuguese ships that made the discoveries.
What’s your subsequent undertaking?
I have already got one other movie accomplished, “The place Is This Road?· or With No Earlier than and After” co-directed with João Rui Guerra da Mata, who can be the screenwriter and manufacturing designer-art director on “Fogo Fátuo”. It’s a revisiting of Paulo Rocha’s 1963 movie “Os Verdes Anos” and stars Isabel Ruth who was within the unique movie. I inherited a home from my grandparents and from the window we see a decor that appeared on this movie. I additionally studied beneath Paulo Rocha at movie college. It’s roughly a documentary, by which I revisit the locations and present how they’ve modified, with an improvised soundtrack based mostly on the unique rating. We started filming in 2019, however the principle scenes had been shot through the pandemic, and additionally present how Lisbon was affected throughout this era. It’s virtually as if the movie was contaminated by the pandemic. It would premiere later this yr.