Thankful for... Cláudio Alves!
Wednesday, November 24, 2021 at 10:00PM 
This year for our "thankful for" column we're mixing it up a bit. Instead of asking our contributors to share a brief list of favourite things, I'm interviewing them so you can get to know them a bit better. We love them all, here, at TFE HQ and hope you do too. On Thanksgiving's Eve let's talk to our most frequent contributor, CLÁUDIO ALVES.
Cláudio first joined us two and a half years ago and it makes all kind of sense that his first piece was on the potential of Oscar's costume design race of 2019. He blesses us with his expressive writing so often it's hard to choose favourites or even know where to point you but if you're just joining us but our most popular series, currently, is his "Almost There" column on performances that didn't quite win Oscar favor so start there! Other passions of his include film festivals and International Cinema and Hollywood History. Any links in this interview go to related beautiful pieces of his, too.
Here's our short interview...
When did you first fall in love with the movies?
I can't recall a time when I wasn't in love with the movies. According to my parents, they started taking me to the cinema when I was just two, and the screen kept me rapt with attention. Since that first theatrical movie experience was The Hunchback of Notre Dame, maybe that's the point when my passion blossomed. It was undoubtedly the first flick I remember owning on VHS, and judging by my childhood scribbles, it was one I loved to draw. I have a bunch of clumsy sketches of Quasimodo climbing through the roofs of Notre Dame, Esmeralda's dance, Frollo's nightmare of burning lust, a cry of "Sanctuary." Those were moments that made me fall in love with the movie and, through extension, all of cinema.
Which current director do you feel truly grateful for?
Jane Campion is my favorite living film director. Her cinema combines extreme materiality, an almost haptic feeling, with the murky depths of human desire. It's a marriage of the tactile and the ineffable that always takes my breath away.
Tis this season to be thankful. What wouldn't you have wanted to live without this past year?
The marionette majesty of Annette's titular character. She's out of this world.
The joy of discovering Titane's secret tenderness, a treasure of bruised humanity hiding in plain sight behind all those crazy provocations.
Sharing Parallel Mothers with my mother, the world's biggest Almodóvar fan and the person who introduced me to his cinema.
The combined greatness of Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga in Passing, a pas de deux of anti-naturalistic acting like no other.
A candlelit game between a mother and her children in Spencer, the high point of a great film, and Kristen Stewart's brittle characterization.
Susana Nobre's Jack's Ride and its taxi-bound odyssey through memory and geography, where New York and a small corner of Portugal become one.
The Worst Person in the World's unexpected tonal shift, when Anders Danielsen Lie takes center stage and delivers the performance of a lifetime.
The resurrection of Benedetta is the funniest beat of a surprisingly funny movie. I laughed like a madman.
The mellifluous quality of Jeffrey Wright's narration in The French Dispatch. It's ambrosia for the ear.
Mia Wasikowska dancing to ABBA in Bergman Island, how her euphoria crumbles into agony when she realizes someone's missing.
Pick your favourites, Cláudio!
If you were to magically win an Oscar, who would you thank in your acceptance speech?
My family for always saving me, for pulling me up from the pits of darkness. Friends that inspire me to be a better person, that inspire me and make life more bearable – you know you are, and I love you dearly. Writers like Nathaniel Rogers, Nick Davis, Jason Adams, Angelica Jade Bastien, and so many others who helped me grow as a cinephile and expanded my horizons. Finally, the filmmakers who made me love cinema, sublime artists whose creations make dreams into realities – thank you for your gift.
You're throwing a Thanksgiving dinner feast. You can invite 5 movie characters. Go!
Barb & Star, for obvious reasons.
Mirabel from Encanto, so we can bond about the importance of hugs.
Chris from Bergman Island, so we can talk about movies.
Nescaffier from The French Dispatch if he helps with the cooking.
You can follow Cláudio on Twitter, Letterboxd, Facebook, and Instagram and you should!
Reader Comments (4)
Happy Thanksgiving Cláudio ! I loved your review of ANNETTE.
Cláudio, you are a treasure! I hope you write about Paul Newman someday - he is one of my all-time favorites.
Didn't love Spencer as much as you, but the candlelit scene was wonderful.
We're blessed to have you, Claudio - loved tag-teaming with you on A Room With a View and the 1986 Smackdown!
Fabulous (and I'm not just talking about the photo at the top of the interview)!