Akira Kamiki | Top 10 Lugares em São Paulo (Top 10 Places to Visit in São Paulo) / 2018

the bridge

by Douglas Messerli

 

Akira Kamiki (screenwriter director) Top 10 Lugares em São Paulo (Top 10 Places to Visit in São Paulo) / 2018 [14 minutes]

 

In Brazilian director Akirka Kamiki’s short 2018 film two very different kind of photographers, Plinio (Cleyton Nascimento) and Argentinian Fran (Esteban H. Esquivel), the latter visiting the city of São Paulo for a single Sunday, meet up.

Somewhat as in Richard Linklater’s 1995 film Before Sunrise, the two, despite their vast differences, find one another irresistible and spend the day together as Plinio, a social activist who photographs people shows his special vision of São Paulo to the visitor, who primarily focuses his attention on buildings, rarely incorporating individuals into his landscapes.     

     The relationship develops even though Fran has only a few words of Portuguese and Plinio cannot speak Spanish nor English, the latter language Fran uses to communicate in Brazil and other countries.      At first Plinio even suspects that Fran may be playing a role as a way to pick up young men, but quickly realizes his open naiveté when it comes to interactions with people. And before Fran even quite knows what’s going on, Plinio has grabbed him by his camera strap and pulled him into the busy world of one the largest of South American cities.

 

     But it’s clear that Plinio is not quite sure of Fran’s behavior, asking him if people “xavecam” in Argentina, which he describes as “flirting, wooing, dating.” For Fran it is simple. It’s usually starts with liking how someone looks and they something you like about the person. For instance—as he touches Plinio’s frizzy hair do—“I like your hair,” Plinio pulling away even though he has previously complemented Fran about his long hair.      

     Fran describes himself as taking “travel pictures,” the most important thing being the understanding of space. Soon after, he describes himself: “I am the bridge between the beauty of architecture and people’s wanderlust,” none of which Plinio comprehends—that is until Fran shows him some of his pictures on his cellphone of France. Plinio enjoys the pictures, but seems to be laughing at them as Fran sees it, demanding his phone back. But actually, Plinio is just commenting on the fact that in only one photo is a garden with people. They are, after all, the pictures of a well-traveled photographer, not at all like the ones Plinio shoots with his cruder equipment.

     He photographers only current events: “Workers, students, housewives, everyone [taking] to the streets.” If Plinio could not understand what Fran was saying about his out, neither can Fran “get it,” when Plinio explains what he does. Plinio takes him into a bookstore and shows a book of his photographs, all closeups of people’s faces, the faces of just those whom he has described.

      “I photograph people, refugees who come to São Paulo.”

      Fran asks what he wants him to say, Plinio laughing, “You can praise me, but it has to be in Spanish.”

      It is getting dark, and Plinio has to catch his bus home. “You could come with me,” he adds.

     But Fran must go back too. The two men are doomed in their short time together to lose the pleasure of one another’s company as the sun sets.

      Plinio takes Fran to one final site, a large fallen tree with huge leaves that have continued to grow despite the trees collapse. And there they finally kiss, the tourist visit and the current events between people occurring like a bridge between their two cultures.

 

Los Angeles, December 28, 2023

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (December 2023).