The Man of the Crowd

Loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe’s story of the same name, Marcelo Gomes and Cao Guimaraes, two of the most interesting filmmakers working in Brazil today, have crafted an elegant, parsimonious, and formally impeccable story of Juvenal, a lonely train driver in Belo Horizonte, and his encounter with Margo, a station controller. Emphasizing the theme of alienation in Poe’s story and revealing Guimaraes’s work as a visual artist, the two directors opted for an unusual, perfectly square aspect ratio, which intriguingly makes the film resemble a Polaroid. Juvenal and Margo, who each embody a different form of urban solitude, have been brought together in this beautifully composed ode to friendship.