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Only God Knows review
:. Director: Carlos Bolado
:. Starring: Diego Luna, Alice Braga
:. Running Time: 1:55
:. Year: 2006
:. Country: Brazil
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Diego Luna is a specialist in the type of maladroit, clumsy character who finds the passport of a beautiful girl (Alice Braga — City of God, Lower City) in Tijuana, and to watch him is an opportunity not to be missed. As you would expect from him, the young man offers her a ride to the closest consulate in Mexico City, without of course telling her that he has the precious document.
What's interesting in Luna's performances is that he always manages to make himself likable despite his wrongdoings, and as the unlikely duo embarks on a road trip back to the capital, we know that his sneaky tricks will serve a higher purpose, ie finding love, and we forgive him instantly.
But what we're less sure about is where this film is going. The alliance of Luna and Braga, who were both in somewhat duplicate works about ménage-à-trois and road trips (Y Tu Mamá También & Lower City) is too obvious to be a coincidence and, after the first hour clearly embracing a sense of irony, it's clear that Only God Knows is too sharp not to reserve us something else other than just another variation on the theme of sex on wheels in Mexico.
There are hints in the first half that Luna's Damián is a religious man and that he thinks the two of them are meant to be, but it's when Braga's Dolores goes to Brazil that the title of the film starts to make full sense and that the tone suddenly changes from light romantic comedy to a darker and more dramatic take on beliefs and fate.
What God might know is that if fate exists, it cannot be broken, and if even miracles happen, in the end everything will get back into the order it was meant to be. While the treatment of a theme like this might sound heavy, and the pretext for the kind of drama that made the reputation of French literature, the strength of Carlos Bolado's film is that it goes for a light and poetic approach, stripped of any pretentious aspirations. And when there is drama, the filmmaker wisely leaves the scenes off screen, thus avoiding any kind of emotional exploitation. Bolado knows that subtlety, rather than shock, is often the best way to convey a message, and by building his picture on the charm of its protagonists, he creates a highly engaging work, which manages to be both smart and enchanting, dark and amusing.
Fred Thom
 Movie Reviews: Brazilian Films
Reviews 2012 - present
Reviews 1998 - 2012
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