A surprising film from a young and promising filmmaker which already gained recognition at the Cannes Film Festival Critic’s Week. A group of men recover a body from a well. A group of women keep vigil with a mother mourning the loss of her son. Two long takes practically constitute the whole of an extremely beautiful and sad film (with a dedication at its end), written and directed by Pedro Peralta. “Ascensão” impresses in its photography, visual composition and mise-en-scène. It pays homage to the lineage and traditions of Portuguese cinema, from Manoel Oliveira’s “A Caça” to Paulo Rocha - “Se Eu Fosse Ladrão... Roubava”, 2013). It’s a sublime film composed of silences, which uses amateur and non-actors - corporeal and spatial, metaphysical, taciturn and rustic, overwhelmingly dark and nebulous, but with a radiant ending. (PC)