Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto

(Portugal/France, 2008, 150 minutes)

A film crew documents Summertime town celebrations in Northern Portugal with a view to doing a teenage love story on location. Intriguing fictional exercise that deconstructs the creative process of making a movie by pointing out the roots of its “puppy love” narrative second half in the quasi-documentary tone of its first half; main drawbacks are overlength, a lack of rhythm in the first part and some wobbly scripting in the second.

An O Som e a Fúria/Shellac Sud presentation/production, with the support of ICA and the participation of RTP. Starring Sónia Bandeira, Fábio Oliveira, Joaquim Carvalho, Andreia Santos, Armando Nunes, Manuel Soares, Emmanuelle Fèvre, Diogo Encarnação, Bruno Lourenço. Directed by Miguel Gomes; produced by Sandro Aguilar, Luís Urbano; written by Miguel Gomes, Mariana Ricardo, Telmo Churro; music supervision and research, Mariana Ricardo; director of photography (Tobis), Rui Poças; production and costume designer, Bruno Duarte; film editors, Telmo Churro, Miguel Gomes.