Directed by Renata Pinheiro
Written by Sergio Oliveira, Renata Pinheiro, & Leo Pyrata
Starring Luciano Pedro Jr., Matheus Nachtergaele, Tavinho Teixeira, & Jules Elting
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 99 minutes
In select theaters January 7

by Clayton Hayes, Staff Writer

King Car was an absolute treat to watch and very much up my alley, so I’m excited to talk about it! I want to state at the outset, though, that I don’t have much experience with Brazilian cinema. In fact it’s limited to one other film, 2018’s Diamantino (dirs. Gabriel Abrantes & Daniel Schmidt), which I also really enjoyed. Maybe this is a sign that I need to start watching more Brazilian films?

It is very difficult to synopsize this film in any coherent way, so I’m going to provide the broadest of broad strokes. Uno (Pedro Jr.) was born in the backseat of his father’s taxi and, in that same moment, a consciousness was awoken in the taxi as well. The consciousness is linked to Uno, who is the only one that can hear the taxi’s voice. Years later, Uno (now studying agriculture and ecology in college) meets his estranged uncle Zé (Nachtergaele) and, together, they rebuild the old taxi into the titular King Car (voiced by Teixeira). As other cars begin to gain consciousness it becomes clear that both King Car and Zé are driven by their own desires, and that whatever control Uno may have had over the situation is slipping through his fingers.

I have a feeling that King Car will be somewhat divisive when it sees wider release. It didn’t strike me as an easily-read film; I also don’t see that as a problem but I don’t think that’s true of most moviegoers. It has a dreamlike sense of reality which can be disorienting or perhaps even frustrating for viewers who want narratives to follow a certain set of rules. The audience also isn’t provided much context for characters aside from Uno, Zé, and King Car. Characters pop into the film without any exposition as to who they are or what their relationships are; the audience is left to gather what information they can. In short, it’s a film that requires an engaged audience.

I think it’s really rewarding to meet the filmmakers where they are and, from there, to just go along for the ride. Pinheiro is making some interesting choices here and the surreality of the film helps keep King Car pretty lean despite its complex plot. There’s no discussion of how Uno and King Car came to be linked (or how King Car gained consciousness in the first place) and only one scene where Uno has to convince someone he can talk to a car. Otherwise characters just accept what they see and experience. It adds to the dreamlike nature of the film while showing the audience how the film should be viewed.

As might be guessed from the complexity of its plot, King Car covers a lot of thematic ground. I don’t think I came close to grasping everything it had to say. I chalk that up (at least partially) to my lack of understanding of the cultural context for this film and the overall density of the film. There’s elements of anticapitalism, antifascism, and environmentalism/ecofeminism. There’s also a fascinating exploration of what it means to be human, especially as humans identify more and more with the tools we create and use. It’s a theme I’m more used to seeing in science fiction and I thought it was introduced in King Car in a really interesting way.

There were so many other great little tidbits in King Car that it’s hard to pick what else to mention. I loved the sound design and the music, and really wish I had the chance to watch this in a theater; I got the impression that a proper audio system would’ve made Teixeira’s vocal performance as King Car something the audience would feel as well as hear. It isn’t essential to enjoying the film, but if you’re okay with seeing films in theaters I think it’d be worth it in this case. Nachtergaele, a veteran of Brazilian cinema, also puts in a wonderfully bizarre performance as Zé. I  wouldn’t be surprised if some viewers found it off-putting; it definitely took me a bit to get into it but, in the end, I was on board.

Again, I really enjoyed this film. If you’re in the mood for something you need to engage with, to meet where it’s at, I’d definitely recommend giving King Car a watch!