A small yet very concise indie film about second choices in life as a young prostitute (Clarice Steil Siewert) reflects about a regretful act from
her past, of which she tries to remedy in the present, at the same time an important figure from her past comes back to her life trying to get back from where they
left off. The situations in question revolves her baby daughter that she gave up for adoption, and the return of her ex-boyfriend Maike (Samuel Kuhn),
a criminal type who spent some time in prison after murdering a rival.
While Solange, the woman, tries to establish her new goals to have a chance to be near her daughter, she recollects her turbulent and wild
relationship with Maike, and the story also progresses on the present time as they're both changed persons, through many difficult experiences and
things aren't so bright for them as danger might be around the corner with some unfinished business.
"Infância de Monique" ("Monique's Childhood") is a very nice drama that never falls into sentimentality nor melodrama. It's very well-acted by the
whole cast (most of them in their film debuts) and you get to see a story that feels very authentic, that kind of story you imagine happening or
probably even heard or knew this exact scenario with some variations. The flashbacks work but it can be a little confusing at times, though it
certainly functions to establish a comparison of who this couple were in the beginning and how drastically they changed over the years. In short, you
really feel something deep for those characters as for brief moments you root for them to be together despite knowing they don't anything good to share
with each other except some brief moments of intimacy and company, but what they had is gone forever as painful events got in the way.
I found this film by accident while looking for a short film with a slightlysimilar title, and I was pleasantly surprised in how good it was. Even
though the story sounds something done before, I still enjoyed it very much. 8/10.