Warming, Sincere Teen Drama ‘The Way He Looks’

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Average: 5 (1 vote)
HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.0/5.0
Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Opening this weekend at the Music Box Theater is “The Way He Looks,” a Brazilian coming-of-age drama that navigates topics of living with blindness and sexual curiosity without an agenda. Though strained by an underdeveloped focal love triangle, these facets are explored with freeness within the developing era of high school crushes. “The Way He Looks” is Brazil’s official entry for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards.

Writer/director Daniel Ribeiro’s film begins with the friendship of Giovana (Tess Ahorim) and center character Leo (Ghilherme Lobo), who has been blind since birth. They have a close bond, in and out of high school. Before classes resume for the year, they are shown laying by a pool, discussing first kisses; Leo has never had one, and is not sure when it will happen. When school begins, Giovana helps Leo with reading what’s on the chalkboard to him, and even stands up for Leo when two bullies try to pick on him.

This friendship is challenged when another buddy enters the mix, Gabriel (Fabio Audi). A new student to the school, he creates a trio out of their tight duo. A love triangle it becomes: Giovana begins to fancy Gabriel a bit, but has competition with the class flirt; Leo bonds with Gabriel as the two work on a project together, but also find time to share music and understand each other’s perspectives; and Giovana has an affection for Leo as well, though he has never considered her in that fashion.

With Leo’s experience given center perspective, the story follows him as he matures with his visual impairment, such as when he wants to learn how to shave, or when he creates a subplot out of hoping to sign up for a foreign exchange program. Without dramatic manipulation, Leo faces conflicts from bullies that refuse to understand Leo, or even his overly-concerned mother. Essential to the story’s power with this unique character and his life events is a non-showy sweetness by Lobo, who provides the film a heart that it builds upon.

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Outside of Leo, the forces that move the narrative of “The Way He Looks” are stubbornly ordinate high school drama, with Giovana and Gabriel plain in comparison. Gabriel is especially played with a tedious type of perfection, constructed as an uninteresting goal for Giovana and Leo. He works best as a projection, and falters when taken as the real human being that the film wants.

“The Way He Looks” has striking tact with its content, without pandering to Leo’s experiences. It’s a film that genuinely manages that which is different, regarding characters who are admittedly not like many others others shared in movies, as it explores the particular experiences of Leo, but doesn’t treat him with kid gloves specialness. When Leo asks “Why don’t you try to make it normal?” to his parents regarding his treatment, it’s a reflexive statement that the film earns.

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Even in its aesthetic presentation, the film doesn’t treat Leo as a differently cinematic character (a close-up of Leo’s ear introduces Gabriel, but even “Whiplash” does the same thing too). By not making it feel as if the viewer’s own experience is being manipulated by camera or editing, “The Way He Looks” naturally places its viewers into an understanding of what Leo’s world is like. It leaves the audience to piece together Leo’s senses, and how those construct his essential feelings.

Those who have seen films like “The Fault in Our Stars” and are troubled by how those projects’ tragic conditions enflame its young romances will find warmth in “The Way He Looks,” a story of bonding in different circumstances without the grandiose fluff of teenagers feigning forever love. In turn, the film’s sincerity is elevated, its touching moments treated with a fitting normalcy.

“The Way He Looks” opens at Chicago’s Music Box Theater on January 2. Featuring Tess Ahorim, Fabio Audi, and Ghilherme Lobo. Written and directed by Daniel Ribeiro. Not Rated.

HollywoodChicago.com editor and staff writer Nick Allen

By NICK ALLEN
Editor & Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
nick@hollywoodchicago.com

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