Limite (1931)
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Limite Movie Review
Limite is a 1931 Brazilian silent drama film directed by Mario Peixoto. It’s an intriguing experimental film that works more than it doesn’t.
Unlike what most would think, this film actually does have a plot and it isn’t like ‘An Andalusian Dog’ in that regard. Two girls and a guy are adrift in a boat at sea and they reminisce about their pasts and what brought them to this place through a series of flashbacks which take up almost the entirety of this picture.
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It’s a fascinating structure that is authentic even now and of course it was highly original for its time period. I personally don’t like most flashbacks, but here they honestly worked really well to the point of being the highlight of the picture. I loved that structure of the film and its melancholic, very poignant tone to it and very dreamlike also worked stupendously.
The characters do get solid development throughout those flashbacks and I also really liked the performances from the entire cast here as they deliver solid emotional work in their roles. The character development isn’t great, but for this type of film it’s serviceable.
Limite is definitely way too artsy at times and self-indulgent. It’s slow and thus difficult to get into, but then again if you get into it, it’s quite rewarding. I personally did not like all those scenes with the camera shots just at the sea waves for minutes with no end. Those types of scenes always bore me when they seem overlong and endless. I would have cut those off having in mind that the entire movie is also very long, clocking in at two hours.
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But there is no denying its artistry, especially in the area of cinematography which is simply stunning. The shots here are gorgeously composed and I just loved some imagery here which was highly intriguing and again conveying melancholy perfectly. The movie’s visuals make it worth a watch alone along with the score which fits the tone of the film beautifully and thus it conveys emotion very successfully. The direction from Peixoto is also quite strong. The lack of intertitles also made it much more poetic.
Limite is overly artsy and long with some scenes being typically boring for this type of film, but overall most of the film works thanks in no small part to its very fascinating and atypical flashback structure and a fitting score for its melancholic tone. The cinematography is the standout aspect as the movie looks gorgeous with a lot of intriguing imagery at display.
