''Neighboring Sounds'' ( Portuguese: ''O Som ao Redor'') is a 2012 Brazilian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed and written by

Kleber Mendonça Filho Kleber Mendonça Filho (; born 22 November 1968) is a Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer, and critic. Early life With a degree in journalism from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Kleber Mendonça Filho began his career as a fil ...

, produced by Emilie Lesclaux and starring

International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

and was released nationally on January 4, 2013. It was selected as the Brazilian submission for best foreign language film at the

86th Academy Awards The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2013 in film, films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, beginning at 5: ...

, but was not nominated. ''

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'' film critic

A. O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic, known for his film and literary criticism. After starting his career at ''The New York Review of Books'', '' Variety'', and ''Slate'', he began writing film ...

named it one of the top films of 2012.

Plot

Prologue

The film opens with several still images - of a countryside, a family, and man talking to an old woman, a woman in cultural clothing, a group of villagers, a hill and pasture, an estate, from two angles, farmers working, and young women. A young boy bicycles while a young girl rollerblades through a parking lot to a public area where many children are playing. A young man and woman kiss in the corner of a yard. Two cars nearly collide at an intersection.

Part 1: Guard Dogs

Beatriz Linhares is a middle-aged married housewife with two young children (the two in the prologue), Fernanda and Nelsinho, living in a middle-class neighborhood in

Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

, Brazil. One night, unable to sleep due to a dog’s barking, she drugs it; by morning, it is lying on the ground, unable to bark or stand up. João is a young man from a prominent family in the neighborhood working as a real estate agent; the night before, he had just met and slept with a young woman named Sofia, who used to live on their street. As they exit his apartment, they discover that Sofia’s car has been broken into and the CD player stolen. João suspects that the culprit is Dinho, his cousin and a regular car thief. While visiting at his uncle Anco’s, they are approached by Clodoaldo, a man representing an independent private security firm looking to do business with families on the street. Anco and João are not interested, but do not outright refuse their services. João visits Dinho, who is infuriated by João’s insinuation that he is the thief, but as João is about to leave, he hands him a CD player. While Beatriz's children are at English class, a man arrives to deliver water and

pot Pot may refer to: Containers * Flowerpot, a container in which plants are cultivated * Pottery, ceramic containers made from clay * Cooking pot, a type of cookware * Pot, a beer glass Places * Ken Jones Aerodrome, IATA airport code POT * ...

to her. After he leaves, she masturbates with the vibrations of the washing machine. Clodoaldo and his coworker, the one-eyed Fernando, pay a visit to Francisco, João and Dinho’s grandfather, Anco’s father, and the owner of half of the property in the area, to receive his blessing to start work in the neighborhood. Francisco blesses them, tells them that he only lives in the area, and requests that they do not do business with Dinho, who has been upsetting Anco. After the men leave, Francisco calls João, who tells him that he is worried about Dinho.

Part 2: Night Guards

Some time later, Beatriz and her family express their disappointment over the security men, who allowed two car CD players to be stolen just the night before and generally come off as trying to create problems so they can step in to solve them. At a condominium meeting, a group of residents argue that their night watchman is becoming negligent in his duties and should be fired without severance pay; João is the sole dissenter who believes that in light of his years of service, the man should receive severance pay, but the others do not take his opinion seriously and he leaves. He meets Sofia and the two go to his room; unbeknownst to them, as they make out in the elevator, they are being watched by the night watchman through the surveillance camera. After sex, João hands Sofia the CD player, but she claims that it is not hers. João tells her that they can visit the house that she briefly lived in 20 years ago; upon learning that Francisco used to own the entire area, Sofia reasons that João is rich and casually suggests marriage. Beatriz is once again disturbed by dog barks at night. Meanwhile, Francisco goes to the beach nearby to swim alone, despite warnings of sharks. As he returns safely, Clodoaldo calls Dinho from a pay phone, threatening to kill him if he burgles another car. Dinho soon arrives and threatens to retaliate if he discovers that it was the security men who called him.

Part 3: Bodyguards

Francisco, João, and Sofia go to a house in the countryside. Over lunch, they discuss marriage; Sofia admits to not being sure yet. Afterwards, the couple visit an abandoned cinema and the three soak under a waterfall. Back in Recife, Clodoaldo tells his men that he will have to leave for some time to run errands for his brother Claudio, who has just arrived in the area. Luciene, a house worker in Francisco’s house, leaves to take his clothes to the dry cleaners; along the way, she meets her boyfriend - Clodoaldo. A resident is out of town and gave Clodoaldo the keys, so they go into his house to have sex, despite constant telephone ringing. A young boy suddenly walks by the bedroom, but he does not seem to take notice of the couple, nor them of him. João and Sofia visit the house she used to live in; as she revisits the rooms, she appears lost among her memories. Francisco calls Clodoaldo’s security firm, but nobody picks up. Beatriz leaves to buy firecrackers. Anco hosts a party for his niece’s 13th birthday. There, João reveals to Dinho that he and Sofia have broken up, and muses on the charm of having large families. After the party, Francisco finds Clodoaldo and tells him to go to his apartment. He arrives with Claudio, to Francisco’s disapproval, but he allows him to stay. Francisco tells them that Reginaldo, a man who worked for him for many years, has been murdered, so he wants them to provide him with some extra security; however, when Clodoaldo and Claudio ask Francisco whether he believes he has any connection to the killing, Francisco refuses to answer. Claudio then tells Francisco that they’d just seen Reginaldo and reveals to him that they are the sons of Antonio and nephews of Everett; while the film never specifies, it is implied that decades earlier, Francisco killed them. Upon this revelation, all three men stand up.

Epilogue

Beatriz returns with the firecrackers; upon them being lit, the entire family scrambles to watch them from a distance. The loud noises puncture the quiet of the night and arouse the dog. The film ends with a freeze frame - of Beatriz, her husband, and Fernanda gathered together, looking at the fireworks while some paces away, a cowering Nelsinho looks away, his hands over his ears.

Cast

Irandhir Santos Irandhir Santos Pinto (born 22 August 1978) is a Brazilian actor. Early life Born in Barreiros, Pernambuco, Irandhir lived in several cities in the countryside of Pernambuco during his childhood.Maeve Jinkings Maeve Jinkings Melo Silva (born 4 August 1976) is a Brazilian actress. Early life Jinkings was born in Brasília, Brazil's capital, the daughter of a merchant and a photojournalist. At the age of five she moved with her mother to Belém, Pa ...

as Bia * W.J. Solha as Francisco * Irma Brown as Sofia * Lula Terra as Anco * Yuri Holanda as Dinho * Clébia Souza as Luciene * Albert Tenório as Ronaldo * Nivaldo Nascimento as Fernando * Felipe Bandeira as Nelson * Clara Pinheiro de Oliveira as Fernanda * Sebastião Formiga as Claudio * Mauricéia Conceição as Mariá

Production

''Neighboring Sounds'' is the first fiction feature film from director Kleber Mendonça Filho, who had previously directed the documentary ''Critical''.

and

Zona da Mata The Zona da Mata (, "Forest Belt") is the narrow coastal plain between the Atlantic Ocean and the dry '' agreste'' and ''sertão'' regions in the northeastern Brazilian states of Maranhão, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alag ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

serve as a backdrop for the dialogue of the actors, being recorded in July and August 2010 for 6 weeks and 3 days. The period of editing the film took two years to complete, and also a long time to hit Brazilian theaters, just released nationally on January 4, 2013, with distribution by Vitrine Filmes. Written in 2008, the screenplay was awarded by the Hubert Bals Fund, from

Rotterdam Film Festival International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

, where the film made its world premiere. The screenplay was also awarded in bidding by

Petrobras Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., better known by and Trade name, trading as the portmanteau Petrobras (), is a Brazilian state-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. ...

and the Government of Pernambuco.

Reception

Critical response

One of the most acclaimed Brazilian films in 2012, ''Neighbouring Sounds'' received overwhelmingly positive reviews. ''Neighboring Sounds'' has an approval rating of 93% on

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website

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, based on 42 reviews, and an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critical consensus states: "An outstanding feature debut for director Kleber Mendonça Filho, ''Neighbouring Sounds'' takes a delightfully dark -- and wholly absorbing -- look at human nature".

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 77 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Critic A. O. Scott from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' names as one of the world's top 10 movies made in 2012.

Caetano Veloso Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicália, which encompas ...

, in his column in the newspaper ''

O Globo ''O Globo'' (, ''The Globe'') is a Brazilian newspaper based in Rio de Janeiro. ''O Globo'' is the leading daily newspaper in the country and the most prominent print publication in the Grupo Globo media conglomerate. Founded by journalist Ir ...

'', called it "one of the best films made recently in the world." Robert Abele from ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' emphasizes it as "remarkable" and "breathtaking". Tom Dawson of ''

Total Film ''Total Film'' was a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly with a summer issue added, between the July and August issues, every year since issue 91, 2004) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and of ...

'' gave it four of five stars, saying that Filho "reveals a society haunted by both its past and by the threat of future violence", while David Parkinson from ''

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

'' also praises the director, calling his film "a hugely impressive debut feature".

President of Brazil The president of Brazil (), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil () or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head of government of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the ...

Dilma Rousseff Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the only woman to have held the ...

, in her

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account, said to be happy with the film's submission to the 86th Academy Awards, stating it's a "beautiful film". The president also recommended ''Neighbouring Sounds'' to her followers, considering the film "a chronicle of today's Recife".

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Brazilian submission for Academy Awards 2012 films Brazilian drama films Films shot in Recife 2012 drama films Best Picture APCA Award winners Films directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho Films set in Recife 2012 directorial debut films 2010s Portuguese-language films 2010s Brazilian films Portuguese-language drama films