A Vida Luminosa
overview
Spring is in the air, and Nicolau has just turned twenty-four years old, but he doesn’t feel like throwing a big party. He is beginning to sense that his dream of being a professional musician is falling apart, he still lives with his parents, and he pines for his former girlfriend. Though he lacks the energy to move forward, fate throws several opportunities his way to take control of his life again. With his debut feature – a sun-drenched Lisbon tale about the carefree naiveté of youth that brings to mind the films of Rohmer – João Rosas follows on not just his shorts Entrecampos (2012), Maria do Mar (2015), and Catavento (2020), in which he depicted Nicolau’s childhood and adolescence, but also the legacy of earlier Portuguese auteur filmmakers.