Body Rice

While the hedonistic optimism of the 1990s now really does date from a different century, that other form of escapism, apathetic doom thinking that is largely associated with the 1980s, is back in fashion. That is certainly the case in the young-delinquent drama Body Rice, which follows several young people in a desert-like part of the Alentejo in Portugal. Hugo Vieira, making his debut as director, does so in intense, faded images in which the camera largely points at the body language and the moments of contemplation.
The German teenager Katrin is sent to Portugal as part of a reintegration programme for delinquent youths. In the barren surroundings of the Alentejo she meets Julia, who is also there for a social programme, and Pedro who lives locally but walks around equally lost. The acquaintanceship however leads nowhere. These young people only seem to feel in the right place (‘happy’ would be too big a word) when they can dance to very loud techno. Comic (also too big a word) highpoint is the dance scene with a mini robot. That doesn’t change the lonely, selfish attitude. In that strange 1980s way, it is a very existential film: ‘I’ve got the spirit, but lose the feeling’, Joy Division already said. (GT)

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