Where the Sun Beats

Pinto’s sophomore feature patiently investigates the everyday life and psychosexual vacillations of Laura (Laura Morante), a woman caught in a web of verboten romance and incestuous desire. Pinto elliptically and delicately portrays the small farming community that serves as the backdrop for the impossible relationships pursued by Laura and her brother, Nuno. The alluring cast also features Inês de Medeiros (of Jacques Rivette’s The Gang of Four and several films by Pedro Costa) as Graça, a key player in the film’s game of libidinal cat-and-mouse. A strongly atmospheric work in which torrid intrigues emerge through allusion and insinuation, Where the Sun Beats finds Pinto exploring the self-thwarting ways of desire and the expressive potential of the unspoken.