A road trip through the beautiful Brazilian North East takes on the trajectory of a journey through personal desolation in this exquisite, ultimately glorious film. “Utterly unpretentious and deeply touching.” — Variety
Transcendent; an affecting record of processing loss and coming through to the other side; Utterly unpretentious and deeply touching.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2010
I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You 2009
Viajo porque preciso, volto porque te amo
A road trip through the beautiful, semi-arid sertão of the Brazilian North East becomes a journey to the other side of personal desolation in this exquisite, ultimately resplendent film. José (unseen, but voiced with seductive musicality by Irandhir Santos) is a geologist analysing tectonics for a canal project that will eventually displace thousands of the inhabitants scattered through the inhospitable terrain. His eye for remarkable geological formations gives way increasingly to wounding apprehension of anything in the landscape that speaks to his loneliness; pop songs on the car radio and the sentimental graffiti that gives the film its name pierce him to the core. Marcelo Gomes (Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures, NZIFF06) and Karim Aïnouz (Suely in the Sky, NZIFF07) have collaborated seamlessly to evoke their traveller’s broken-hearted view of the world – while observing the vitality in it that gradually, triumphantly claims him back for love. — BG