In the Brazilian backlands, water is scarce and opportunities even scarcer. In the sun-scorched desert, a fly drinking from a puddle sets off an action-packed cycle of life: a gecko narrowly escapes the claws of a bird, only to end up devoured by the dog. The opening montage establishes the film's worldview from the outset: survival is arbitrary, cruelty is ordinary, and life stubbornly goes on regardless. Ismael longs to escape this suffocating landscape, but the prospect of leaving behind the familiar hell fills him with apprehension.
We are introduced to Ismael as his mother chases him through the small town of Veredas before collapsing dramatically onto the pavement and pleading with him to stay – the distance between them seemingly impossible to overcome. The young man is a gifted repairman whose skills keep much of the town functioning, while his mother owns its most profitable business, a brothel called Casa Rosa.
For much of its runtime, film embraces the pleasures of the road movie. Ismael and his dog Bacalhau set off on a sequence of episodic misadventures that lead them to a musician-serial killer, a two-headed policeman and the restaurant owner Vera, who turns into a love interest. Bacalhau’s commentary and the film’s shifting encounters keep the narrative in constant motion, while exposing Ismael to distorted reflections of the world he is trying to escape. Despite touching on topics of violence against women, police brutality, corruption and gun violence, animation rarely adopts a grave tone. Instead, it filters these realities through eccentric characters and encounters while the phrase “son of a bitch” echoes along the journey of self-discovery, gradually revealing itself as a sharp observation about inherited shame.
The hand-drawn 2D animation, posing techniques and a punchy rhythm make the film feel like a graphic novel, with sharp framing and bold outlines that feel permanently exposed to the harshness of the landscape. Colour carries much of the emotional weight. Casa Rosa glows in saturated reds. The desert burns in yellows and rust tones. Even night refuses the comfort of blue, settling instead into warm browns that preserve the heat of the day. The ocean, invoked far more often than seen, becomes a promise of impossible freshness.
Directed by: Érica Maradona, Otto Guerra, Sávio Leite, Tania Anaya
Production: Otto Desenhos Animados
Country: Brasil
Year: 2026
Running time: 72 min.
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