Time rewinds as nature, in the shape of a quince reversing from rot to ripe, is the only reliable witness. Diários de Otsoga—that I only realise on writing, and not without disappointment, be the word agosto spelled backward, not the name of an exotic Portuguese location—transcends both the concept of metacinema and lockdown project. The latter, incidentally, a cinematic aberration. The fictional forming and shifting relationships among the three young protagonists, the surreal limitations and uncertainties of the epidemic, and life on set with its petty crimes such as stealing a pair of socks or a bottle of milk from the fridge, organically blend into an all but surprising solid body. Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes challenge the fears of an unprecedented time, dextrously walking the line between sheer randomness and fine dramatic improvisation to convey a poetic mix of melancholy, innocence, and joy. Interviewed at the TIFF, Gomes is brutal but right in saying that most of the films that tried to be creative within the covid constraints are not, and are boring. Shot on film, shot by people, not solo with depressive means like a mobile or a webcam, Diários de Otsoga is quite the opposite. However they did it, the result is electrifying.
If he always keeps you dreamin’
You won’t have a lonely hour.
If a day could last forever,
You might like your ivory tower.
