Sometimes a man just needs to put his mind at ease so he can enjoy his dinner. However, what lengths will he seek to satisfy that idea?
Cabrito is a 19 minute short that was submitted to be all the way from Brazil. Despite its meager budget of only $750, Cabrito has been an official selection in over seven film festivals worldwide. Cabrito, which translates to kid, appears to be a religiously based, bloody horror movie so I was anxious to check it out. Here’s my review having watched.
Cabrito is written and directed by Luciano de Azevedo. Cast members include Samir Hauaji, Sandra Emília Costa, Pri Helena and Nino de Barros. The film follows a cotton candy salesman who lives with a religious zealot of a mother, who often stresses the man out with her crazy, overbearing beliefs. Unfortunately, it appears the salesman has gotten a local woman pregnant and that is a big no-no for his mother, an action that drives a bigger wedge between the two and starts the man down a path of self destruction. Nightmares and a new thirst for blood compell the duo to fix the problem… the only way they know how.
OK, so, critics are raving about Cabrito… but I’m going to be in the minority here and say that I wasn’t as enthralled as everyone else. Maybe because I’m not super religious or maybe because of having to read subtitles or maybe because of the late hour that I watched it… But, I just don’t see what everyone is raving out. Sure, it’s a solid film that satisfies a particular horror demographic and it’s got a lot of good gore to it, but I just wasn’t blown away. I’ve seen much better short films that were more cohesive.
Luckily, though, I have to applaud Cabrito for being a “how to” on independent film making. The fact that this short film was made on a budget that was far less than $1,000 and looks so good speaks volumes about Luciano de Azevedo and his production crew. I was impressed by the high quality of film, perfect cinematography, perfecting light and sleek audio editing found here. If Azevedo could do all this with such a small budget, I’d love to see what he could do with something much bigger.
A remarkable piece of cinema, Cabrito just wasn’t my cup of tea. Still, I have to be fair and rate it a 7 out of 10 for sheer professionalism from everyone involved.
