I'm Still Here (2024)

Walter Salles’s drama centres on a mother’s unwavering strength after her husband’s disappearance under Brazil’s dictatorship. The critic highlights Fernanda Torres’s phenomenal portrayal of motherhood as the film’s standout element.

The review calls the film a triumph of humanity that delivers both emotional embrace and gut punch. Torres's performance as Eunice is singled out as astounding and perhaps the best female performance of the year.

The critic describes a touching tribute to a family left adrift, with the film fortifying the legacy of Rubens Paiva through Walter Salles’ loving biopic.

The critic lauds Torres’s subtle, internalized portrayal of maternal courage and resilience in the face of loss, noting how Salles contrasts the family’s initial joy with the regime’s intrusion to create a life-affirming drama.

The critic highlights Fernanda Torres’s revelatory restrained performance as the anchor of a humanist family drama that chronicles resilience and resistance under dictatorship without maudlin excess.

Walter Salles’s fact-based drama follows the Paiva family after the father’s abduction during Brazil’s military dictatorship. The critic praises Fernanda Torres’s intelligent and emotionally complex performance as the mother who maintains hope and resilience for her children.

The critic calls it a gripping, profoundly touching film with deep pathos and one of Salles’ best, praising the intimate lens on family resistance under dictatorship and Fernanda Torres’s eloquent restraint.

The critic praises the film as a beautiful, gutting portrait of a Brazilian family whose domestic bliss is shattered by the military dictatorship, highlighting Fernanda Torres’s stunning performance as the resilient mother Eunice.

The review calls the film deeply poignant and moving for its focus on family resilience and Eunice’s quiet courage after her husband’s disappearance, captured through tactile, memory-like filmmaking and Torres’s superb performance.

The film retells the story of activist Eunice Paiva and her family under Brazil's military dictatorship, with Salles drawing on personal memories. Fernanda Torres delivers a restrained, totally convincing portrayal of the resilient matriarch.

The critic praises Fernanda Torres's masterful, controlled performance as Eunice Paiva. The film is highlighted for its intimate, child’s-eye view of family life amid dictatorship and for capturing the mother's defiant joy and resilience.

The critic praises Fernanda Torres’s marvelously internalized and subtle performance that grounds the film in emotional reality, making the family’s story heartbreaking through restraint amid political thriller elements.

Walter Salles’s Oscar-nominated film depicts the Paiva family’s life under military rule after the father’s abduction. The critic notes its timely portrait of authoritarianism and the family’s personal resilience amid historical darkness.

Salles returns to narrative filmmaking with a sensitive depiction of the forced disappearance of Rubens Paiva and the devastation faced by his family. Fernanda Torres gives an arresting, potent lead performance marked by containment and unshakeable intent.

Salles directs a superb factually-based film that is an engrossing, affecting tribute to a formidable woman and her family under military rule. Fernanda Torres gives a standout performance as the resilient matriarch Eunice.

Salles delivers a personal and poignant vision of family life under Brazilian fascism, centering on a dogged woman determined to protect her family. The film blends family drama and political thriller while evoking an authentic sense of time and place.

The film is described as a sensitive portrait of family life under trauma but noted for its subdued tone that may limit impact outside Brazil. Fernanda Torres's understated lead performance receives particular praise.

The film movingly depicts a family torn apart by Brazil’s dictatorship through Eunice’s perspective and Torres’s restrained performance, but the critic finds it overly idealized and airbrushed in its humanist approach.

The critic finds the film’s affection tender but largely hagiographic, noting it reconstructs the family’s daily life immersively yet struggles to excavate deeper humanism beyond determining how history remembers them.

The critic calls it one of the year's best films, a gut-wrenching yet celebratory account of a family's survival during Brazil's dictatorship. Fernanda Torres's lead performance is singled out as magnificent and Oscar-worthy.

The film is ultimately a celebration of Brazil's resilience and spirit under tyranny, with a visceral sense of shock when the family's idyll is shattered. Fernanda Torres delivers an emotionally delicate performance as Eunice that should put her in the awards race.

The critic praises the film's tactile, intimate portrayal of the Paiva family before and after the dictatorship's intrusion, highlighting Salles' attention to detail and Fernanda Torres' performance. It singles out the warm family dynamics and the seamless aging of the lead character.

The film is an unflinching look at injustice paired with a compassionate portrait of one woman fighting it, grounded in rich humanity and everyday details of life under repression. Fernanda Torres captures every setback, joy and loss with grace in a quietly devastating performance.

The review praises the film's powerful depiction of quiet resilience and one woman's fight for justice and truth under dictatorship. Torres's performance is highlighted as exceptional, though the ending is noted as slightly maudlin.

The review criticizes the film for its lack of urgency and bland historical drama approach, noting it feels like a museum exhibit rather than capturing the anguish. It praises Fernanda Torres' performance but faults the script for prioritizing plot over character development.

The critic highlights Fernanda Torres's intricate central performance as the film's strongest element. The unostentatious direction and unhurried pace benefit the acting but cause the surrounding film to lose momentum.