Safe Return Doubtful

Brazil / Argentina – 2022

In rural Brazil a struggling family is made an offer; to replace their terminally ill grandfather with a drug lord who needs to be hidden for while.

This is Director Carolina Markowicz’s first film, and demonstrates that she is clearly one to be watched.

She concentrates on the family’s reaction to an outsider thrust into their space, and where the place of sympathy lies.

Irene is just about holding her family together. Her husband, Jairo, works burning charcoal, but it is seasonal work only, and he drinks heavily. Their nine year old son Jean sleeps above his grandfather, who cannot move, talk or breathe, in a bunk bed, and is unsurprisingly, challenging.

The incoming drug lord is far from what might be expected also; he comes over as charming, but can also be fractious, but he fascinates the family, and particularly little Jean, who is much happier to be sharing a room with him.

Markowicz uses a mix of professional and non-professional actors, and the blend works really well. Their performances are compelling and plausible, particularly from Maeve Jinkings who plays Irene, an amateur. Best of all though, is the fine line between torturous suspense and dark comedy that pushes the film into the highest drawer, and… there’s a really good twist.

IMDb score 7.2 / 10 – My Score 9 / 10