Only Good Things is a Brazilian film with a relatively imagistic and abstract style. While watching it, I kept unconsciously comparing it with End of the Century. Of course, that film can be discussed separately later.
I discussed it with GPT, and it thought this film was more about layering images; but I personally tend to understand it in a relatively straightforward way.
Antonio had originally only had contact with animals and had been isolated from people for too long. Therefore, when he first saw Marcelo after he fell from the motorcycle, he also cared for him in the way he would treat an animal: he did not think of sending him to a hospital, but cleaned and bandaged his wounds himself. Only later, when a certain feeling suddenly awakened, did he transform into the role of a lover.
The first half and the second half of the film are divided by jumping into the lake and coming out of the water. In the second half of the film, Marcelo is actually completely absent. Although there are many voices on the phone in the film, as well as descriptions of him from the side, whether Marcelo exists during this period becomes a dividing line between different interpretations.
According to my most straightforward understanding, Marcelo exists. What the director wants to express is nothing more than this: people’s hearts will eventually change. No matter how beautiful and unforgettable the past was, one day, people will also let go and become another version of themselves. The film follows someone from their twenties all the way to an old person with white hair, presenting the long years in between. This interpretation is actually quite simple. If understood only from this angle, the film may not be considered especially outstanding; as for what meanings it has on an abstract level, everyone can refer to other interpretations.
The reason I understand it this way is that there are some obvious imagistic contrasts between the first half and the second half of the film. The images in the old-age section point out that the old man’s current expression is exactly the same as his happiness when he was young. This means that even if Marcelo has left, he can still have happiness. It is the same when the old man is with the male secretary, although the male secretary may also just be a passerby. He clearly wants to imitate Marcelo, wearing Marcelo’s clothes and drinking Marcelo’s wine, though his motive is unclear. The old man’s initial kiss on the male secretary’s foot also happens to correspond to the action Marcelo performed toward him in the first half.
These clear contrasts show that the old man may already have let go and is not so sad anymore. His giving the dog to the couple by the roadside also means that he believes Marcelo will not return, and that the rift between the two of them can no longer be mended. As for interpretations such as “Marcelo never existed” or “Marcelo was killed by the old man,” I will not expand on them, because I may not yet understand things at that level.
The conflict designed in the first half is quite obvious. Although it is unclear what role Antonio’s father’s godson actually plays in the story, when such a character appears in this type of film, it always makes people suspect that he covets Antonio and therefore shot Marcelo. The director should also know that this kind of character design easily leads the audience to make similar associations.
In short, I am using the most straightforward way of understanding it. The whole film still looks very pleasant, although it is quite stream-of-consciousness; my interpretation of it may not be profound, but that does not affect the fact that it is a good film.
Finally, I still have to say that the male lead was cast as quite good-looking, and in the first half it is hard to look away from him. In the second half, the old man and the young male lead are extremely similar in expression, and the scene of smiling in front of the photo is elegant to the point of being frightening. It has to be said that the director’s casting and design are very excellent.
