Power Alley
Ayomi Domenica Dias excels as a 17-year-old volleyball player in Lillah Halla’s well-meant but uneven Brazilian drama.
Image courtesy of AXI Entertainment.
This film by the Brazilian director Lillah Halla carried off the Fipresci prize for the best first feature at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and it is indeed a deeply committed work that confirms her filmmaking skills. Nevertheless, the talent that shines out here is that of the film’s leading actress Ayomi Domenica Dias who plays a 17-year-old girl, Sofia, living in São Paulo. Dias herself was born in 2000 and this is not her first acting role but it is undoubtedly a star-making turn and it is she who carries the film.
In addition to directing, Halla also wrote the screenplay with Maria Elena Morán and, despite Halla’s desire to tackle issues highly relevant to life in Brazil today, the storyline brings in rather too much causing the various plot elements to sit uneasily together. There are times too when the film can seem self-consciously trendy. The opening scenes are an example of this since they introduce us to Sofia as a member of a volleyball team of girls and the film seems at this point less interested in them as individuals than in rendering them as modern youngsters. Accompanied by strident pop music, these girls frequently use strong language and their idea of fun is to stand together on a bridge over a motorway and pee on the cars below. Some at least will find this less than engaging, although it must be acknowledged that these days such elements are quite likely to be found in comedy films. In any case Power Alley soon overcomes its unprepossessing start as it moves on to far more worthwhile dramatic material.
The central plot pivot lies in the fact that Sophia suddenly discovers that she is pregnant and is certain that she wants an abortion. It so happens that her goal in life at this moment is to win an athletic scholarship to a university in Chile which could well come her way because one is available for talented volleyball players and Sophia is regarded as the outstanding member of her team. Indeed, she has already been noticed by Tânia (Larissa Siqueira) who is on the lookout for potential winners. Consequently, in addition to her lacking any desire to become a mother, her condition threatens her hope of being selected which would have been virtually guaranteed had she been able to lead her team to top place in the contest that is under way. If those opening scenes echo a current trend, the sporting aspect in Power Alley takes on in contrast that all too familiar story of a team competing en route to a final game the result of which will provide the film’s climax and resolve the story.
But, in contrast to all that, Power Alley really exists to make a serious comment on the fact that in Brazil abortion is illegal save in exceptional cases (for instance when rape is involved). The film underlines this by showing how different the attitude is in Uruguay. This becomes part of the story because Sofia’s late mother was from that country and, once he has been won over to her view, her father João (Rômulo Braga), drives Sofia to Uruguay in the hope of obtaining an abortion for her there. This turns out to be impossible but only because Sofia lacks the necessary citizenship papers despite her mother’s origin. These scenes powerfully convey the film’s disapproval of the restrictions on abortion in Brazil and that viewpoint is further brought out by the way in which, when first seeking help from an advertised source, Sofia encounters a woman (Gláucia Vandeveld) who seeks to pressurise her into keeping the child and clearly does this on a regular basis.
These parts of the film are strong and such players as Braga, Vandeveld and Grace Passô (the latter playing Sofia’s sympathetic coach) give valuable support. Furthermore, despite Halla’s odd decision to revert to an old device whereby the screen often goes black before moving on from one scene to another – these days that disrupts the flow – she undoubtedly succeeds in keeping the film moving. But there is still the sense that there are too many things in the mix here. If the sexual diversity embraced by the volleyball team is an apt addition to the storyline, scenes in which Sofia’s father is seen beekeeping seem an unnecessary extra. Again, it's strange that the LGBTQ angle is taken further relatively late on by having Sofia’s teammate Bel (Loro Bardot) suddenly declare her love for her. This lesbian element seems to come in from nowhere in that Sofia is instantly responsive to Bel thus reminding us that, although the plot needed Sofia to become pregnant, nothing has been disclosed about the man who made her pregnant or about how that occurred (she could, of course, be bisexual but that possibility or any other explanation never comes up). More convincing detail in the characterisation of Sofia might well have helped credibility and increased our sympathy for her. Furthermore, the film’s climax contains scenes that tend to take it over the top in the way of contrivance.
Given the uneven quality of Power Alley, it might easily have been the case that its weaker elements rendered it unmemorable, well-intended and watchable enough but certainly no more than that. But, that being the context, what stands out all the more clearly, like a shining light indeed, is the appeal of Ayomi Domenica Dias. When you have somebody who acts so well that they inhabit their role but who also exhibits what one can instantly recognise as star quality the result is transformative: the actress can't hide the problematic elements mentioned but she does ensure that you won't forget this film because you are bound to remember her.
Original title: Levante.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Ayomi Domenica Dias, Loro Bardot, Grace Passô, Rômulo Braga, Lorre Motta, Larissa Siqueira, Gláucia Vandeveld, Ernani Sancjez, Vinicius Meloni, Onna Silva, Heloísa Pires, Helȏ Campello.
Dir Lillah Halla, Pro Clarissa Guarilha, Rafaella Costa, Louise Bellicaud and Claire Charles-Gervais, Screenplay Lillah Halla and Maria Elena Morán, Ph Wilssa Esser, Pro Des Maira Mesquita, Ed Eve Randolph, Music Maria Beraldo, Costumes Nicole Davrieux.
Cimarron Productions/Arissas/Manjericão Filmes/In Vivo Films/Vitrine Films/Riofilme-AXI Entertainment.
100 mins. Brazil/France/Uruguay. 2023. UK Rel: 29 November 2024. Cert. 15.
