CHARCOAL (Melbourne IFF 2023) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Even for those with only a cursory knowledge of contemporary Brazilian cinema, Maeve Jinkings is a familiar and always welcome face for her unforgettable performances in Gabriel Mascaro’s Neon Bull (2015) and, in particular, her one-two punch with Kleber Mendonça Filho – 2013’s Neighbouring Sounds and 2016’s Aquarius. Starring as Iren, a weary matriarch in a struggling peasant family in the countryside outside of São Paulo, in Carolina Markowicz’s Charcoal Jinkings offers one of her most complex and unforgettable characters yet.
Juggling caring for her energetic son Jean (Jean de Almedida Costa) and detached husband Jairo (Romulo Braga) with her severely ill elderly father Firmino (Benedito Alves), the film begins when local nurse Juracy (Aline Marta Maia) offers the family a diabolical deal: to discreetly kill the dying Firmino who is close to death anyway and replace him for financial benefit with Miguel (Cesar Bordon), a local drug baron who needs to temporarily lay low. Irene accepts the deal, but her hopes that Miguel’s presence might bring some excitement and fun to their lives is rapidly revealed to not be the case.
Bleakly funny and never predictable, with its stellar cast Charcoal is a comic portrait of just how heavy the weight of poverty can be on those whose souls it destroys. Brought to life through charmingly human flourishes such as little Jean’s inability not to flaunt his newfound wealth and Irene’s tentative flirtation with the idea of a better life, Markowicz’s debut feature is full of life and color, immersing us completely in the little dramas of everyday life which steadily yet subtly work to make us empathize with characters whose morality is often shady at best. It is in this sense as compassionate as it is funny; Charcoal is a gentle, loving portrait of poverty and desperation where moral judgement takes a back seat to the complex art of survival.
NOTE: Without actors and writers, we wouldn’t have movies. This review was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes in the United States, and the author of this review supports them unequivocally.
