I'm Still Here
I'm Still Here
A woman married to a former politician during the military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.
rg9400 reviewedMarch 11, 2025
I'm Still Here is a movie that builds in the background, hitting me without me even realizing how emotionally invested I had become. To be honest, I found the first 30 minutes of the movie pretty slow and dry. The focus on the idylic life of the Paiva family establishes the cost of what is to come, expertly juxtaposed against the brutality of the government in the shadows and its impact on their future. Home videos, group photos, and family dinners act as motifs, recontextualizing loss throughout. That slow shattering makes up the core of this movie, centered on a tour de force performance from Fernanda Torres that manages to capture the emotional weight building within Eunice with finesse, equally showcasing her strength and her vulnerability. In a lot of ways, it's a very well-made movie. However, even though it focuses on completely different people and a completely different country, the recent FX TV show Say Nothing does cover a similar topic, and I just found it stronger and more compelling. Without that comparison though, I'm Still Here is a great movie and an excellent Oscar nominee.