Parabéns! (João Pedro Rodrigues, 1997)

On the morning of his 30th birthday, Chico wakes up to find a young man on his bed, with whom he spent the night. The film is a (re)collection of details of The Morning After.

Parabéns! is where João Pedro Rodrigues starts coming into his own, the first glimpse into the style and themes we've come to know from his features, albeit still in embryonic form.

The character of João is in a way a percursor to O Fantasma 's Sérgio, exhibiting the same kind of animalistic energy, although while the latter assumed a canine behaviour (barking, crotch-sniffing, territorial pissing), the former more clearly resembles a feline.

Pawing.

Pouncing.

Sipping milk.

Of the details, the overlapping sounds of Tom Tom Club and Dragon Ball Z is something to cherish.

O Pastor (João Pedro Rodrigues, 1988)

João Pedro Rodrigues' ESTC graduation short film.

Formally assured, and consisting mostly of long shots, it tells the story of a shepherd who, at the age of 65, is forced to retire. It is unsurprising to learn that António Reis was one of Rodrigues' teachers at ESTC, considering how much it reminded me of Reis' own semi-ethnographic portrayals of quotidian rural life in Trás-os-Montes and Ana. Still, it is a mere curiosity.