Review of Variações: Guardian Angel

Walking into this movie I was really hoping to learn more about the hairstylist who grew larger than life and became one of Portugal's biggest pop icons. Instead, I was forced into the indulgence of a director, who thought that showing a lot of unknown songs being sung without any orchestration for more than one hour was the way to go. There is no clear idea of what he wants to say, just random thoughts that he tries to blend together without any cohesion. Yes, Variações struggled until his music finally became "visible", but you never really get the idea that he was actually that famous or cherished in Portugal. There are no concerts (playing inside a disco doesn't count), and nothing that can lead you to have that idea. If the story had as much attention put to it as the costume design had, maybe this could have been a great movie.