I'm Still Here (2024)

[Cremildo]

Walter Salles will direct and Mariana Lima will star in I’m Still Here, based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s best-selling memoir about his mother Eunice Paiva, a housewife forced to reinvent herself as an activist when her husband fell victim to the military regime that took control of Brazil in 1964. Her husband became among many who were tortured and disappeared with no due process.


Mariana Lima, one of Brazil’s most acclaimed actresses with credits that include Dark Days and Father’s Chair, will play Paiva. Murilo Hauser, who scripted the 2019 Un Certain Regard winning-Invisible Life, adapted the screenplay, with Salles overseeing the development process. [+]

EDIT (9/2024): Mariana Lima ended up not making the movie; Fernanda Torres was cast instead.

[Gacivory]

I’ll check it out!

[Cremildo]

I'M STILL HERE | Official Trailer (2025) - YouTube

[Cremildo]

I’m Still Here’ Nears $11M In Brazil; 7th Biggest Local Title This Century

Through Sunday, it has grossed $10.7M in the home market. It originally debuted to No.1 in Brazil the weekend of November 7 and has continued to go from strength to strength.

In its sophomore session, it jumped 28% and in week three became Brazil’s top local title of the year in addition to becoming Salles’ biggest, surpassing Central Station, and Sony’s highest grossing local production in the market.

Drops have been slight since, notably in a competitive landscape with significant Hollywood movies in the mix. In its 7th time at bat, the movie became the 7th biggest local title this century.

[kishiro]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

"(...) the movie became the 7th biggest local title this century."

I wondered what those other titles were.. I did some searching and think I found out;

$94 mill. 2010 Tropa De Elite 2
$88 mill. 2018 Nothing To Loose (Nada A Perder)
$87 mill. 2015 Loucas Pra Casar
$33 mill. 2002 City Of God (Cidade De Deus)
$29 mill. 2009 Se Eu Fosse Você 2
$21 mill. 2010 Astral City (Nosso Lar)
$15 mill. 2024 I'm Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui)

Currently 'I'm Still Here's rating on iMDB is one of the highest of the films from 2024. Five of the titles with above 8 in rating are; 'Anora', 'Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl', 'The Brutalist', 'Dune: Part Two' (with a 8.5 score). And at the top 'I'm Still Here' with a whopping 8.9 score! (as per december 22nd 2024). It's the most liked of the Golden Globe nominated foreign films at the moment. However it seems like the french-indian film 'All We Imagine as Light' has the most traction and seems to be the bet for winning.

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by kishiro

I wondered what those other titles were.. I did some searching and think I found out;

$94 mill. 2010 Tropa De Elite 2
$88 mill. 2018 Nothing To Loose (Nada A Perder)
$87 mill. 2015 Loucas Pra Casar
$33 mill. 2002 City Of God (Cidade De Deus)
$29 mill. 2009 Se Eu Fosse Você 2
$21 mill. 2010 Astral City (Nosso Lar)
$15 mill. 2024 I'm Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui)

That's mostly right but it's missing:

- the controversial The Ten Commandments (which sold 11.3 million tickets in 2016 and grossed R$116.8 million)
- the comedy sequels My Mom Is a Character 3 (11.6 million tickets in 2019; R$169 million gross) and My Mom Is a Character 2 (9.3 million tickets sold in 2016; R$124.7 million gross).

I couldn't find their grosses in dollars, but given their attendance they must be up there.

[Cremildo]

Fernanda Torres won the Satellite Award for Best Actress, Drama

[Bernardo A.]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

Fernanda Torres won the Satellite Award for Best Actress, Drama

Merece muito!

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by Bernardo A.

Merece muito!

I must be the only Brazilian "cinephile" who hasn't watched it yet!

(A sala de cinema da minha cidadezinha é ruim demais, me recuso a frequentá-la há 10 anos.)

Not sure if it'll be digitally available here before the Oscars.

[The Great Owl]

Five stars

After having recently returned to Brazil following a six-year self-exile in the wake of the 1964 coup d'état that gave way to a military dictatorship, Rubens Paiva, a civil engineer and former left-wing congressman played by Selton Mello, enjoys a blissful domestic existence with his wife, Eunice, played by Fernanda Torres, and their five children in their lovely Leblon Beach home in Rio de Janeiro in 1970. Although he secretly collaborates with friends to support political expatriates, he and his family have little reason to feel threatened by the occasional army vehicles that drive through the city as they prepare to move into a new dream house that is still in the early phases of construction. When men arrive at the door and order Rubens to come with them for deposition questioning, he casually says goodbye to his wife and children, promising to be home in time for dinner and waving with a smile as he steps into a vehicle. He is never seen again.

During the weeks and months that follow, Eunice, who, as a woman, is unable to access her missing husband's bank account, struggles to maintain composure around her children as she tries to continue providing for them while seeking answers about the disappearance. When one is faced with the unthinkable, occasional solace can be found in the everyday pleasantries that most take for granted.

I'm Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui), a 2024 Portuguese political drama directed by Walter Salles and based on the true story of the Paiva family, is being greeted with international acclaim after an unsuccessful boycott attempt by Brazilian far-right groups, even having recently received Academy Award recognition in the form of a Best Picture nomination and a Best International Feature Film nomination. Fernanda Torres, who is rightfully in the running for Best Actress, is a force of nature during her every screen moment in a performance that exudes quiet courage and resilience while her character goes through the motions to put on a facade of normalcy. During one particularly resonant sequence, after Eunice Paiva receives unfortunate news about her husband, she takes her children out for ice cream, enjoying their smiles and laughter despite her inner turmoil and devastation.

I'm Still Here hits hard right now in present-day, when, less than two weeks after the Presidential Inauguration here in the United States, many of us are watching with no small amount of apprehension as the executive branch of our government is casting legal procedures aside and conducting itself in a manner that none of us were taught in Civics classes, on a road to possible fascism that is lined with people who are telling us that we are overreacting. As I have seen friends here in my city tip one another off to the appearances of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in their neighborhoods, I am reminded of a Peter Gabriel lyrics. “It's only water in a stranger's tear.” We are now facing the distinct probability that we may watch scenarios unfold that we have always assumed just happen in other countries, scenarios where the water is from our own tears. Thanks to the fiercely authentic acting of Torres and the rest of the cast of this screen story, strangers cease to be strangers.

My favorite aspect of this film is that it reinforces the fact that joy, in and of itself, is a form of rebellion. During two concerts that I attended last weekend, friends and I discussed how it felt odd to be having fun when potentially horrific disruption is playing out all around us. In the end, though, we decided that our enjoyment of the shows was the best way to give a middle finger to evil. At one point in I'm Still Here, as Torres's Eunice and her family pose for a photo that will appear in a journalist's report on the missing Rubens, they are instructed to look serious and not to smile. Eunice and the children all defy the suggestion by smiling for the camera.

[Bernardo A.]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

[Show spoiler]Five stars

After having recently returned to Brazil following a six-year self-exile in the wake of the 1964 coup d'état that gave way to a military dictatorship, Rubens Paiva, a civil engineer and former left-wing congressman played by Selton Mello, enjoys a blissful domestic existence with his wife, Eunice, played by Fernanda Torres, and their five children in their lovely Leblon Beach home in Rio de Janeiro in 1970. Although he secretly collaborates with friends to support political expatriates, he and his family have little reason to feel threatened by the occasional army vehicles that drive through the city as they prepare to move into a new dream house that is still in the early phases of construction. When men arrive at the door and order Rubens to come with them for deposition questioning, he casually says goodbye to his wife and children, promising to be home in time for dinner and waving with a smile as he steps into a vehicle. He is never seen again.

During the weeks and months that follow, Eunice, who, as a woman, is unable to access her missing husband's bank account, struggles to maintain composure around her children as she tries to continue providing for them while seeking answers about the disappearance. When one is faced with the unthinkable, occasional solace can be found in the everyday pleasantries that most take for granted.

I'm Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui), a 2024 Portuguese political drama directed by Walter Salles and based on the true story of the Paiva family, is being greeted with international acclaim after an unsuccessful boycott attempt by Brazilian far-right groups, even having recently received Academy Award recognition in the form of a Best Picture nomination and a Best International Feature Film nomination. Fernanda Torres, who is rightfully in the running for Best Actress, is a force of nature during her every screen moment in a performance that exudes quiet courage and resilience while her character goes through the motions to put on a facade of normalcy. During one particularly resonant sequence, after Eunice Paiva receives unfortunate news about her husband, she takes her children out for ice cream, enjoying their smiles and laughter despite her inner turmoil and devastation.

I'm Still Here hits hard right now in present-day, when, less than two weeks after the Presidential Inauguration here in the United States, many of us are watching with no small amount of apprehension as the executive branch of our government is casting legal procedures aside and conducting itself in a manner that none of us were taught in Civics classes, on a road to possible fascism that is lined with people who are telling us that we are overreacting. As I have seen friends here in my city tip one another off to the appearances of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in their neighborhoods, I am reminded of a Peter Gabriel lyrics. “It's only water in a stranger's tear.” We are now facing the distinct probability that we may watch scenarios unfold that we have always assumed just happen in other countries, scenarios where the water is from our own tears. Thanks to the fiercely authentic acting of Torres and the rest of the cast of this screen story, strangers cease to be strangers.

My favorite aspect of this film is that it reinforces the fact that joy, in and of itself, is a form of rebellion. During two concerts that I attended last weekend, friends and I discussed how it felt odd to be having fun when potentially horrific disruption is playing out all around us. In the end, though, we decided that our enjoyment of the shows was the best way to give a middle finger to evil. At one point in I'm Still Here, as Torres's Eunice and her family pose for a photo that will appear in a journalist's report on the missing Rubens, they are instructed to look serious and not to smile. Eunice and the children all defy the suggestion by smiling for the camera.

It's not a Portuguese drama. It's a Portuguese-language Brazilian drama.

[Cremildo]

This won the Goya for Best Ibero-American movie. Brazil's first Goya win.

[Namuhana]

This is *finally* showing at my local theater! Will catch it either today or (bargain) Tuesday.

[Bernardo A.]

Originally Posted by Namuhana

This is *finally* showing at my local theater! Will catch it either today or (bargain) Tuesday.

I hope you like it!

[Namuhana]

Originally Posted by Bernardo A.

I hope you like it!

I missed it today, so I'll be sure to see it Tuesday evening. I hope I like it too!

[clamcakes]

I'll give it a shot. It's playing at the theater near me that has a balcony, and I use any excuse to watch movies from a balcony.

[LordoftheRings]

Subscribed

[n0tredom]

This movie was everything that The Brutalist wishes it was. Best movie I've seen in a while.

[LordoftheRings]

And with a budget of only $1.5 million.

[Bernardo A.]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

And with a budget of only $1.5 million.

And shot on film.