João Canijo

Living Bad

Credits

Original title :

Viver mal

Country :

Portugal

Year :

2023

Director :

João Canijo

Version :

vostEN

Duration :

124 minutes

Format :

digital

Actors :

Nuno Lopes, Filipa Areosa, Leonor Silveira, Rafael Morais, Beatriz Batarda

Awards :

Encounters Award nominee, Berlinale 2023

synopsis

In the same hotel as Bad Living, several guests reveal their own tangled relationships, quiet frustrations, and emotional breakdowns. Across intersecting stories, the film exposes how seemingly ordinary interactions mask deeper loneliness, resentment, and the fragile facades people maintain in intimate relationships.

The Berlinale’s decision to programme "Bad Living" in Competition first and then "Living Bad" in the Encounters section feels random as the two films could easily be viewed the other way round. Both are finely gauged works of art that comment on and feed off one another.

Screen Daily