Tabu [Blu-ray]

Apart from anything else, this extraordinary Portuguese film is stunning to look at, black-and-white in Academy ratio with the second half as a silent movie with added sounds and voice-over commentary (comparison with The Artist would not come amiss). In the first half, set in present-day Lisbon, a depressed middle-aged woman called Pilar is trying to cope with her dying demented friend Aurora. Aurora indicates that she would like to contact a long-lost male friend called Ventura, also living in Lisbon but at an unknown address. After Aurora dies, Pilar tracks down Ventura, who proceeds to tell her the story we see in the second half, where he and Aurora had an illicit love affair in the 1960s in an unnamed colony in Africa. On watching the film a second time, various ramblings of the elderly Aurora make sense, in the light of the dramatic events of part 2 (which can be enjoyed as a short silent movie on its own). Oh, and there's lots of shots of crocodiles, both baby and grown-up (also relevant to the story).
Disc 2 consists of two short films by Gomes, of little interest as far as I could see. And there are no "extras" worth speaking of. But those deficiencies are fully compensated for by the fascinating and extraordinary Tabu.

`Tabu' is Portugese film-maker Miguel Gomes' third film, at its heart is a story about dreams, love and old age. `Tabu' is set in two parts, one that is current in Lisbon, Portugal and one in the past in Mozambique, Africa.

At the centre of both parts of the film is Aurora (Laura Soveral), an elderly woman living in Lisbon whose neglectful daughter has left her in the care of her African maid, Santa (Isabel Muñoz Cardoso). Self-absorbed and disenchanted with life, Aurora is unfortunate to have her fathers gambling habit and regularly blows her monthly allowance at the casino. Having no money to get home, her neighbour Pilar (Teresa Madruga) and Santa pick her up, Aurora explaining that a dream made her believe she'd get lucky. Ill-health forces her to ask Pilar to find an old flame, Ventura (Henrique Espiríto Santo), and his recollections of their love affair in Mozambique become the film's second part.

As `Tabu' moves into the past, it switches from 35mm to 16mm film, gaining hazier tones to match the fading memories. Many of the supposedly random moments and puzzling events in part one of Aurora's life soon fit into place perfectly as all is soon revealed. The 50 years or so younger and more egotistical Aurora (Ana Moreira) is married to plantation owner (Ivo Müller), she embarks in a doomed romance with the young Ventura (Carloto Cotta). The second part of this film is unusual, only music, the ambient sounds of Africa, and the older Ventura's narration can be heard, never the characters' voices.

Initially `Tabu' is quirky and intriguing, but its playful sense of mystery and ambition becomes annoying the longer the narration carries the film. Gomes' distancing techniques, where the lack of sound forces you to watch the characters interactions, fails to enliven or enhance the story. `Tabu" is a black-and-white film with some charm and innocence, clearly a film evoking the silent era films of the past.

As with all dreams, its meanings are abstract and ambiguous, and `Tabu' is so. You are left to imagine much of the drama, but for all the stylistic and structural innovations, ultimately the central story of unrequited love and obsession leaves me unmoved.

Tabu is quite simply an exceptional love film of love and loss, tragic and humane, realistic and moving. What at first seems like a film about an elderly lady in modern-day Lisbon suffering from dementia and trying to hold on to the last scraps of her memory about her previous life, turns out to be a story about naive, youthful love in exotic climates.

Not wanting to give much more away, I end here. Tabu is a most see film that brings a refreshing twist to the age-old theme of love.