Charcoal
In rural Brazil, a struggling family is made an outrageous offer by a drug lord.
Maeve Jinkings
Carolina Markowicz's first feature film opens with a pre-credit sequence that is hugely promising. Furthermore, Charcoal, despite failing to win the best film award at 2022’s Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, was nominated for it and did bag three prizes there including one for best screenplay, this being a work on which Markowicz was writer as well as director. Nevertheless, I regard it as a film that fails to live up to its promise – and that's partly because that opening segment suggests a work very different from what Charcoal turns out to be.
The setting is in the countryside just outside São Paulo and the atmosphere is acutely caught. We immediately get a vivid impression of the harsh life of a married couple, Irene (Maeve Jinkings) and Jairo (Rômulo Braga), who have a nine-year-old son Jean (Jean de Almeida Costa) and are looking after Irene’s aged and seriously ill father (Benedito Alves). What income they get comes mainly from dealing in charcoal, but it's a hard life not helped by Jairo making little effort to find a job to support them. The use of a hymn tune on the soundtrack establishes the fact that religion plays a strong role in this locality, one rarely seen in films and which is compellingly captured here. It's appealing too that there is a complete lack of sentimentality in the film's tone: young Jean’s manner is aggressive, his mother is clearly having to put up with her lot and a new health visitor assigned to the old man – that's Juracy played by Aline Marta Maia – doesn't hesitate to point out that any hope that his health will improve is totally unrealistic. Both Jinkings and Maia are perfectly cast and everything seems set for an impressive film.
I was in fact aware before seeing the film how it would develop. Juracy encourages the idea that if the old man passes away the family's house would be an ideally unlikely place for a drug lord to hide out – that’s Miguel (César Bordón) who has just faked his own death and is planning to escape to a place where he will not be recognised. Taking in this man will be financially rewarding so the family are ready to agree to the scheme, although it will only be possible if Miguel can take over the old man's room. An early scene in which Irene discusses her father's health with a priest seems to promise that, without losing too much credibility, a situation suited to dark drama will instead encompass elements of black comedy. That comes through beautifully as the pious Irene earns commendation from the priest for her caring ways even though it is evident to us that she is hoping that she will be advised that her father is so near death that a mercy killing would be approved by God.
The first quarter of Charcoal keeps all these elements in balance even if the storytelling is less than smooth at times (the first appearance of Miguel is too sudden and unexplained if you do not know in advance how the story will develop). Thereafter, though, Markowicz takes less and less care to keep the tale rooted in some kind of credibility. The main aim of Charcoal as it develops appears to be to surprise the audience by developing the characters in ways that are unexpected (spoiler alert: jump to the next paragraph if you don’t want any indication of what is involved). Part of this – and it's the part that works best – is to take material in which the men would usually be the strong characters and to upend that by showing how weak they are. Jairo may call himself the head of the house, but it's Irene who keeps things going. As for Miguel, the drug lord finds himself controlled by his supposed underlings Juracy and Marlene (Stella Gallazzi) and when you expect him to be at his most forceful, he throws a childish tantrum.
There is certainly underlying humour in all of this, but what has been set up initially as a credible tale becomes increasingly removed from reality and a number of surprises (one about Jairo for example) lead nowhere. At least it can be said that it is not easy to guess how the narrative will end, but none of the characters are sympathetic, the plot developments are not taut enough to prevent the film from seeming rather drawn out at 104 minutes and one looks back to those opening scenes disappointed that they have developed into something far less memorable than one had expected.
Original title: Carvão.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: César Bordón, Maeve Jinkings, Rômulo Braga, Jean de Almeida Costa, Pedro Wagner, Aline Marta Maia, Camila Márdila, Stella Gallazzi, Kim Souza, Benedito Alves.
Dir Carolina Markowicz, Pro Zita Carvalhosa, Screenplay Carolina Markowicz, Ph Pepe Mendes, Pro Des Marinês Mencio, Ed Lautaro Colace with Ricardo Saraiva, Costumes Gabriela Pinesso.
Ajimolido Filmes/Biônica Filmes/Canal Brasil/Tele Cine/Cinematográfica Super Filmes-Signature Entertainment.
104 mins. Argentina/Brazil. 2022. UK Rel: 10 March 2023. Cert. 15.
