Morte e Vida Madalena
Director: Guto Parente
Writer: Guto Parente
Cast: Noá Bonoba, Nataly Rocha, Tavinho Teixeira, Marcus Curvelo, David Santos, Honório Felix, Linga Acácio, Jenniffer Joingley, Rodrigo Fernandes, Souma, Tavares Neto
Part of: Queertactics
Seen on: 14.11.2025

Plot:
After Madalena’s (Noá Bonoba) father passed away, she decides to make the movie that he wrote but never got around to making himself. She asks her ex-husband Davi (Marcus Curvelo) to direct and has the cast lined up, so she feels confident that she can handle the production despite the shoot taking place just before she is due to give birth. But of course, everything goes differently than she planned, starting with Davi disappearing from set.

Morte e Vida Madalena is an entertaining comedy that has some honestly touching moments as well. I really enjoyed it.

There are many movies about filmmaking but I feel like this film has something new to add to the genre – starting with the fact Madalena is the producer of the film, not its director (at least at first). This slight shift makes movies into more than just the director’s project and it allows for a look at the more mundane side of things, like whether there is actually any money to pay anybody on set.

Whether it’s the SciFi film within the film that we get to see, or the cast and crew outside of their roles on the set, the movie gives us plenty of chances to laugh – and has an excellent sense for comedic timing. This includes knowing when things aren’t funny, in fact, and allowing for that part of the film as well. It is, after all, a story about grieving and about continuing on somebody’s legacy by embracing your own and yourself.

While this is not a queer film in the sense that Madalena is (necessarily) a queer character, it is a queer film by the sheer amount of queer people on set, giving us a nice variety of different gender expressions and sexual orientations. (On a sidenote, I am not sure, but I think that Bonoba is trans, and if that is the case, it was pretty great to see her play a cis woman, without this part ever entering into the picture.)

There are many moments that stood out to me in the film, but overall, it was just really fun to watch and to go on this project with Madalena. I was sorry I couldn’t stay for the ensuing discussion of the film because I had a train to catch, but I am glad that I caught the film at least. It was well worth it.

Summarizing: great!