" The Daughters of Yemanja" (Yemanjen tyttaret) is a surrealistic mystery shot in Rio de Janeiro concerning a Finnish woman's quest to solve the mystery of her sister's death. Alternating between Portogese, English and Finnish , with no subtitles ( the Director's intent), we follow the girl into the slums of Rio de Janeiro where everybody hates her because she's a white European but where she does finally solve the mystery with the help of practicioners of the Santerria religion. Not a bad little mystery whose understanding of it depends on how much of the dialogue you understand but which also forces you to really look at the characters faces to try and figure out what everybody's saying. Hand-held camera work and Brazilian music also add to the surreal aspect of the whole film.
3 Reviews
Could Have Been Much Better
rstout352618 June 2012
I have attempted on several occasions to watch this film from beginning to end, but without success. The problem is the language barriers. The dialogue is in Portuguese and Finnish with a little English. Not even the DVD version has the option of subtitles. How many people can translate between Finnish English & Portuguese? The viewer can still follow the story but much is missed without the interaction dialogue. The screenplay, grainy photography of Rio, characters and backdrop music all add to an atmospheric and interesting story. The close-ups of the poor of Rio, the markets, street scenes, gangsters, children and old folk gives a glimpse of the crime ridden city. The main character is a Finnish girl searching for her lost sister with the help of a non-Finnish or English speaking black gardener, who takes a shine to this red haired foreigner well out of her depth. European art-house cinema probably not aimed at a mainstream world audience. Worth persevering with.
Unique and open to interpretation.
cinephile-276904 November 2018
I bought numerous movies from my Grandma and this was one of them. I watched it for the first time last night.
Daughters of Jemenja(which I will refer to as DOJ to make it easier) is a unique movie that could be seen differently upon each viewing.
To summarize this movie, it's best to quote the DVD case:
"Sini arrives in Rio de Janeiro to meet her sister, who has been living in Brasil for 3 yrs. She finds out that her sister disappeared 2 months prior. To overcome despair, she hires a young black gardener to drive her around the enormous city in search of Sissi. A relationship develops between them, revealing their cultural differences and conflicts. When Sini is ready to give up hope, mysterious forces start to write her destiny."
The movie is actually foreign, and while there is a little bit of English, most of it is in Portuguese and Finnish. There are also no subtitles, not even on the menu, so you don't know what is being said unless you know Portuguese and Finnish fluently, which I do not.
Because the dialogue is uncertain, DOJ depends on the action rather than the lines. That's how the story works, and what makes it so special. And there are scenes that you may interpret differently each time, and you could see a "different" movie each time, which is really neat.
The movie is not rated, but I will inform you that if it were then it would be Rated R. There's not much inappropriate content, but the F word is said twice in English and there is a brief scene where a woman bathes-full frontal nudity is shown.
There's also some nude drawings(Think "Titanic"). I would suggest an 11-12 year old to see this. (If you would let your child see Stand By Me and Titanic, you should let your child see this if they are interested.)
There of course may be foreign profanity, but I wouldn't know, and it most likely won't matter.
Another plus is that it's only an hour and 10 minutes long, so you won't have to figure out the movie for very long.
To summarize, I can't exactly say that this is one of the best movies I have ever seen but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm giving it a 9 since it takes a few minutes to get used to the language structure. But it's a very high 9.It's not one of the best movies I've ever seen, but it's easily one of the most unique. And that's good enough for me.
Daughters of Jemenja(which I will refer to as DOJ to make it easier) is a unique movie that could be seen differently upon each viewing.
To summarize this movie, it's best to quote the DVD case:
"Sini arrives in Rio de Janeiro to meet her sister, who has been living in Brasil for 3 yrs. She finds out that her sister disappeared 2 months prior. To overcome despair, she hires a young black gardener to drive her around the enormous city in search of Sissi. A relationship develops between them, revealing their cultural differences and conflicts. When Sini is ready to give up hope, mysterious forces start to write her destiny."
The movie is actually foreign, and while there is a little bit of English, most of it is in Portuguese and Finnish. There are also no subtitles, not even on the menu, so you don't know what is being said unless you know Portuguese and Finnish fluently, which I do not.
Because the dialogue is uncertain, DOJ depends on the action rather than the lines. That's how the story works, and what makes it so special. And there are scenes that you may interpret differently each time, and you could see a "different" movie each time, which is really neat.
The movie is not rated, but I will inform you that if it were then it would be Rated R. There's not much inappropriate content, but the F word is said twice in English and there is a brief scene where a woman bathes-full frontal nudity is shown.
There's also some nude drawings(Think "Titanic"). I would suggest an 11-12 year old to see this. (If you would let your child see Stand By Me and Titanic, you should let your child see this if they are interested.)
There of course may be foreign profanity, but I wouldn't know, and it most likely won't matter.
Another plus is that it's only an hour and 10 minutes long, so you won't have to figure out the movie for very long.
To summarize, I can't exactly say that this is one of the best movies I have ever seen but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm giving it a 9 since it takes a few minutes to get used to the language structure. But it's a very high 9.It's not one of the best movies I've ever seen, but it's easily one of the most unique. And that's good enough for me.
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