A Presença Velada (2022)

Do you know what your neighbor is doing?

Living in an apartment where you can hear what's going on with your neighbors through the walls is the everyday life of many people. And of course, when you hear sounds and you don't know what they are, you start imagining different things. I'll never forget one night when I couldn't sleep because the neighbor above me was moving furniture at midnight, and I thought it was a real earthquake. This is also the premise of this film. A young woman who is pursuing a writing career is disturbed by the sounds from the neighbor's apartment, but interestingly, no one else is bothered by it. I liked that for the greater part of the film, as viewers, we remain in ignorance and suspense because we ourselves question what is really happening. Later, when all the elements are revealed, the film shifts the emphasis to another topic, so until the end there is something that keeps us attentive to the plot. But saying more would mean to spoil te movie.

The movie isn't bad, and I liked that it didn't try to over-inflate the tension. It tries to be as realistic as possible, and yet arouse interest in the viewers due to the slowly developing plot. I have some objections to the decisions and actions of the main characters, which seem illogical to me, but all in all, this is a solid film that turns from a social drama at the beginning into a tense thriller at the end.

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