Magoado is the latest film from Ruben Sainz, after a series of short films. The Spanish-born filmmaker has been a director, writer, and producer for his shorts screened worldwide at festivals. Garnering several awards from acclaimed film festivals, Sainz takes on the task of creating a feature. His feature film debut, Magoado, is extremely slow-burning, so much so that you might not notice the climax. The title is the Portuguese word for “wounded,” which I believe is a testament to the pain of the main character and the audience watching the story drone on. Sainz’s 75-minute film follows a recluse fisherman from Spain, hiding in Brazil from his ambiguously messy past. After over a decade alone fishing, his teenage son arrives out of nowhere and changes his well-established routine.
The film shows a gorgeous beach shore at dawn as the water hits smooth but giant rocks on the sand. It is a beautiful sight, and then suddenly, those rocks turn into our nearly silent, drunk main character. The seawater hitting his body eventually wakes him, and we see his slow and quiet daily routine. The drunken fisherman begins his days bringing out his boat, fishing in his boat, bringing his boat back in, then waiting for something else to happen on his porch. There seems to be nothing this man can say or do, and no other characters around.
Although the monotony of his daily life gets very uninteresting, the beautiful colors of the environment pop. The fishermen’s surroundings look like a place to relax and vacation, but he is determined to keep his head down and quietly exist. With the apparent beauty surrounding him, it is evident that he is missing out on many of life’s perks and pleasures being so recluse. The colors and nature surround him, starkly contrasting how he spends his everyday life. Though a short run time, even the beautiful cinematography wears off occasionally, and you begin to think about the run time. Sain’s short-form tendencies were shown, as the shorter feature felt dragged out. With a unique format, as if it has been filmed on a fancy iPhone with an Instagram filter to make the colors “pop.”
Quickly it becomes evident that the fisherman is a loner, but he is a loner by choice as the film slowly, and I mean slowly, reveals that there are other people he is living around. At one point, he drives his beat-down van to a fishmonger to sell whatever he catches that day. The audience gets confirmation, and some foreshadowing as the woman at the fishmonger’s counter tells him he is so lonely and refers to him by the name “Beto.” This is the first time we get a name for the man we have been silently watching for ten minutes. She says he is so lonely and “Everyone needs someone.” The fisherman blows her off and continues his day by joining a group of men’s card games. No money was involved while they played until Beto diminished the game they started playing with money. Then one of the gentlemen brings up that Beto already owes him money, referring to him as “gringo,” also proclaiming that Beto is an outsider from this community.
After the loss in dominos, Beto goes home, gets drunk, and passes out. The next day he aims to repeat his routine until a man sneaks onto his property to reveal a letter he had brought. After hitting the intruder on the head with a frying pan, when the man awakes and speaks a different name, Beto pulls a pistol on him and points it at the intruder’s head. It is a new side of Beto, much different from the nearly silent man we have been following for 20 minutes. The letter is addressed to “Peio Zabala,” Based on Beto’s reaction, we realize that is his true identity. Something is fishy, and not just his hands and clothes.
Without much communication or explanation, Peio goes to the intruder’s house to pick up his son he never knew he had with an old flame. After 15 years, Peio’s daily routine is never the same, and he must take care of his son for now. Peio and his son, Markel, come from the Basque region in Spain. Right away, with his son speaking in Basque and using Peio’s real name, the father angrily blows up and pulls his van to a halt on the road. Peio explains that his name is Alberto from Avila, and his son is Marcelo from Avila, who must speak Spanish and Portuguese only. The pieces start to fall that Peio is on the run, and his true identity and country of origin must be concealed.
It takes over 40 minutes, more than halfway through the film, to reach any point of joy with the father and son. Peio gets drunk, Marcelo is hurt and angry, and finally, they snowboard on the dunes. The duo gets into mischief, and then they quickly fight over the drinking habits of Peio. After almost an hour of waiting for the story to start, the son leaves back to Spain, giving Peio money to pay off the men mentioned earlier that he still owes. Within a few minutes, Peio returns to Spain in secret, and we find he has a brother who informs the audience and Peio that he is still wanted for a crime we never find out what it was.
As Peio tries to find Marcelo to make things right, he visits Marcelo’s mother, who explains that she is dying and it is Peio’s turn to take care of his child. The news seems to change our main character’s mind about the citation, for he is sober now and willing to take on the challenge of raising a son. This all happens in the last 10 minutes of the film, adding even more to the very odd pacing of the film. Everything resolves quickly and quietly, and the father and son duo leaves us sitting on the beach together, running into the water to surf.
Score: 2 out of 5
Magoada has fallen victim to the aesthetic tendency to “show rather than tell,” which is usually what every film professor will tell you. Yes, filmmaking is a visual medium, but there is little motivation to watch this nearly silent film, with little to no genuine character development. Of course, it is possible to empathize with the characters, but you do not find yourself rooting for a single character until the last 10 minutes of the runtime. The pacing is very lopsided and seems only to be catered to the “high-brow” filmmakers and audiences.
There was not much going on in this film, and the story was not original either. Sainz’s first effort shows that he understands the medium, but the long format is something that he has not yet mastered. The aesthetic qualities seem as an attempt to distract from the lack of three-dimensional characters, gruelingly slow pacing, and boring storyline. Watching a father be a bad dad and a drunk at this point is a trope when not done well. There is no reason to watch the film unless you are a filmmaker fan or have an hour and fifteen minutes to kill. There is no bark or bite but an attempt to look pretty. Sainz’s film seems like he has a lot to say, but he used all the wrong ways, resulting in a rather bland story and film.
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