The Performative Force of Bodies: Affective Realism in Contemporary Brazilian Cinema

Abstract

Abstracth is article traces the emergence of a younger generation of Brazilian i lmmakers whose works bypass traditional themes in Brazilian cinema such as urban violence and historical revisionism to engage in post-identity politics avoiding narratives of nation, class and gender. One of the most prominent features in these recent works is a questioning of the status of the image, which vacillates between i ction and documentary without a point of resolution. h is vacillation can be understood in terms of the performative nature of i lms like h e Monsters, h e Residents, h e Earth Giveth, h e Earth Taketh and Avenida Brasília Formosa. Such i lms are centered around improvisations that open up the image to the real. h erefore, these i lms produce a space between i ction and documentary, between reality and artii ce that is productive and politically charged. h is article aims at discussing this "Brand New" Brazilian Cinema (Novísssimo Cinema Brasileiro) and the performative force of bodies in its af ective realism. No longer a referent for a sociological truth about Brazilian society, realism is taken as something that the image does, i. e., as an af ect that challenges the viewer's response-ability.