Amnesiascope: FILME DEMÊNCIA

Amnesiascope returns with Carlos Reichenbach's Filme Demência, a rarely screened Brazilian feature that funnels the nation's '80s economic anxiety through the Faust myth.

Synopsis:

A small cigarette manufacturer, financially ruined and facing problems at home, is practically thrown out by his wife and plunges into a world of delusions and hallucinations. As in the legend of Faust, he must face his own Mephisto, who emerges throughout the story in different forms and identities.

"The Faust myth reconceived as one hollow walk through São Paulo night (complete with a visit to a Samuel Fuller midnight retro) and the promise of Brazil's eternal economic renewal. A great (the greatest?) São Paulo film and one that also doubles as a long immersion in the city’s film history till the mid-80s. Probably the best look at Brazil just after the military dictatorship." — Filipe Furtado

Host or Publisher Matthew Gasda