There’s a bunch of things to admire in director Daniel Ribeiro’s debut feature about Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo), a blind teenager growing up in São Paulo and taking his first tentative steps towards independence and first love. For a start, Ribeiro gets ace performances out his young cast – not just lead Lobo (who’s actually sighted but very convincing) but also Tess Amorim as his feisty girl bestie and Fabio Audi as the sensitive new boy to whom Leonardo finds himself attracted – and the whole thing has warm, positive messages to transmit about physical difference and teen sexuality. It also looks lovely, and it’s great to see an imported Brazilian film set in a middle-class milieu instead of the favelas for a change. But, despite all these pluses, you can’t help feeling you’ve seen variations on this coming-out story too many times (which applies to the gay theme as much as the disability one), and everyone is just a little too nice to be true, even the bullies.
