The Cult (A Seita) is an artsy gay science fiction film directed by André Antônio. The film is set in the year 2040, after people left Brazil for the space colonies. A young man from the colonies decides to go back to the city of Recife, which is in ruins. When he gets to Recife, he moves into the home he grew up in, thumbs through books, walks, and sleeps with various men.
None of the characters in The Cult have names, and the city appears very post-apocalyptic, with abandoned buildings and empty streets. The cinematography is deliberate, as is the pacing, and the acting feels intentionally overdone. It looks refreshingly unpolished and a bit dated, despite having come out in 2015.
The film opens with the main character talking about a dream he had, and how important the year 2040 was to him. He tells us that people were vaccinated against sleep, but the inhabitants of Recife are somehow not affected by it.
One of the various men the narrator meets tells him not to go out after dark and another asks if he wants to go to a protest about police violence. It isn’t until the narrator begins to notice pink posters plastered about the city that everything starts to come together.
If you don’t like strange, slow-paced films, then The Cult is not for you. It’s a bit quirky and reminds me of queer cinema from the 1980s. It’s also a movie that is better on the second viewing.
