Revenge served up in unapologetic and hefty portions of gore and obsession is the focus of The Three Marias, the new feature from Brazilian filmmaker Aluizio Abranches. This violent tale of payback orchestrated by a widowed mother and executed by her three grown daughters is both a visceral dissection of humanity’s worst instincts and a stunning artistic vision from one of Latin America’s rising filmmakers.
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1961, Abranches first gained notice from critics and audiences in his country and across Europe in 1999 with the release of his feature debut “A Glass of Rage.” The intense story of the brief but torrid affair between a rabbit farmer and a journalist and the bitter aftermath that follows their passion, the film was acclaimed in Brazil and in a European release and won the Panorama Award at the Berlin Film Festival. However, it only had a few festival playdates in the United States and was never released in theaters or on DVD.
This situation has not been repeated with his second feature. “The Three Marias” receives its American commercial premiere on May 30th at Cinema Village in New York, to be followed by playdates across the country. The film was previewed last month in New York at a festival of new Latin American films, where audiences happily embraced its tale of women relying on their own strength and emotions to enact vengeance on men who mistakenly view them as the “weaker sex.”
Even with “The Three Marias” preparing to open in the U.S., while opening in other international markets (it was screened at the recent Istanbul Film Festival to a strong audience reaction), Abranches is already at work on two new films: a drama set in Franco’s Spain spanning the years from the 1950s through the dictator’s death in the mid-1970s, and a romantic drama focusing on a love triangle which is set to be filmed in Brazil and Argentina. Abranches recently spoke with Film Threat on his journey through filmmaking and the making of The Three Marias.
Get the interview in part two of ALUIZIO ABRANCHES: VENGEANCE IS HIS>>>
