Brazil
is the home of churrasco steak houses, so it stands to reason any country that
eats that much carne must have cowboys. You can find many of them in Minas
Gerais (where they also make delicious cheese). Marcelo is a cowboy, who has
always rode-herd over his boss’s cattle. Life will bring him to a crossroads in
Helvecio Marins Jr.’s Homing, which
screens during the film series, Veredas: A Generation of Brazilian Filmmakers.
Marins
has always lived in rural Minas Gerais and he has no intention of giving up the
cowboy life-style. He is just too attuned to the land and the animals, unlike
his little sister, who moved to the big city. However, he has a dream of being
a rodeo announcer (apparently, they are a lot like rappers in Brazil,
maintaining a steady patter of rhymes laced with ribald braggadocio). It would
seem like an odd ambition for the shy cowhand, but performing in front of his
peers could help bring Marcelo out of his shell. Unfortunately, his plans will
be threatened by crisis that strikes out of the blue.
Homing is a quiet,
meditatively observant film that shares a kinship with documentaries like Sweetgrass. Marcelo Di Souza (who plays
his namesake, like the rest of the neophyte ensemble) is clearly deeply
familiar with this world. Nobody had to train him to ride a horse. Yet, it is
still presumably fiction, given third act events, including the most
artistically rendered, least action-oriented cattle rustling scene probably
ever seen on-screen.
This
is a film just about everyone will have respect and warm feelings for, even
though it will probably lull half the audience to sleep. The love Marcelo and
his sister share for each other is quite endearing and the profound Catholic
faith of the rodeo cowboys is also quite poignant, but the simple truth is not
a lot happens during its modest 85-minute running time.
Still,
we root Marcelo, his friends, and their way of life. Homing also bears many similarities to Chloe Zhao’s The Rider, but it is less depressing
(and less dramatic and narratively driven). In both films, we are immersed in a
vanishing way of life and the characters’ hardscrabble living conditions. At
least Marins opens the door for a little hope.
