Cert - 15, Run-time - 2 hours 18 minutes

Director - Walter Salles

Rio, 1971, mother Eunice (Fernanda Torres) finds herself trying to keep her family together after her husband (Selton Mello) goes missing when taken in for questioning by the dictatorship-run army.

Despite the occasional rumble of passing military vehicles past the beach, life appears ideal for the Paiva family in the opening scenes of director Walter Salles' latest, I'm Still Here. It's 1971 and whilst Brazil is run by a dictatorship the family spend their days enjoying the sun, and a lot of souffle.

However, the peace of the slice-of-life drama is disturbed when father Rubens (Selton Mello), a former congressman, is taken in by the army for questioning following recent secretive activities; we see and hear brief glimpses of these in the film's build-up.

While wife Eunice (Fernanda Torres) and daughter Eliana (Luisza Kosovski) are also questioned, locked in separate dark rooms for unknown amounts of time, they are returned home. When Rubens doesn't return Eunice tries to keep her family together, and their hopes up, whilst searching for answers as to what has happened to her husband. Worry and fear grow alongside the film's tension and darkness.

There's an uncertainly amusing nature to things when they first kick off - government agents in the family home play table football with the kids is a moment of lightness before snapping back to the realisation of the threat at hand.

From here the slow-burn drama takes shape as Eunice's worry plays out alongside the political fears and impacts which act as the film's basis - based on real-life Eunice's Marcelo Rubens Paiva's memoir of the same name (Ainda Estou Aqui in the original Portuguese).

Much of what we see from Eunice and her family is hidden behind slipping veils. At the centre is a wonderful performance from Torres, packed with subtlety. There's a confusion amongst the unit as to how they should be acting and feeling as the search for withheld answers goes on. A thriller-like quality is brought to the dramatic proceedings during such moments.

The overall pacing leans into these elements and helps to effectively move the pacing along, even in the latter stages where segmented epilogues reveal a slight uncertainty as to how the film wants to close.

There are still some interesting points raised - particularly regarding the children's responses to the possible death of their father - just reflecting the slower nature of the opening stages. But, for much of the film there's a focused and engaging political drama which stirs the worry and emotion in the characters - especially Torres' character, who delivers a standout scene without having to say anything as tears fill her eyes when observing families enjoying spending time with each other in a restaurant.

Some of these feelings are successfully felt in turn by the audience, largely thanks to the ways in which the film grows its events and creates understanding in the difficult, almost impossible, search for answers.

Four stars