Gabe Klinger’s “Porto” is a film that gives you the pieces to put together a puzzle of “what happened to Jake and Mati?”. A film that I enjoyed for Klinger’s experimental use of Super 8 and also wonderful music to set the mood of the film. But also a film with an interesting take on love, longing, loss and heartbreak. Recommended!
© 2016 Double Play Films. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Porto
DATE OF FILM RELEASE: 2016
DURATION: 76 Minutes
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p (2:35:1 & 1:37:1 Aspect Ratio), English, French and Portuguese DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0, Subtitles: English, French and Spanish
COMPANY: Kino Lorber
RATED: Not Rated
RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2018
Directed by Gabe Klinger
Written by Larry Gross, Gabe Klinger
Produced by Rodrgio Areias, Sonia Buchman, Nicolas De La Mothe, Gabe Klinger, Todd Remis
Executive Producer: Stephen T. Skoly
Producer: Rodrigo Areias, Sonia Buchman, Nicolas De La Mothe, Gabe Klinger, Todd Remis, Julie Snyder
Co-Producer: Beata Rzezniczek, Klaudia Smieja
Associate Producer: Tyler Boris, Willard Boris, Carter Logan, Charles Mudd, Vikram Reddy
Cinematography by Wyatt Garfield
Edited by Gabe Klinger, Geraldine Mangenot
Casting by Rachel Desmarest, Marta Lima
Production Design by Ricardo Preto
Costume Design by Susana Abreu
Starring:
Anton Yelchin as Jake Kleeman
Lucie Lucas as Mati Vargnier
Paulo Calatre as Joao Monteir Olveira
Francoise Lebrun as Mother
Porto is a luminous love story that features one of Anton Yelchin s best, and most heartbreaking performances. Jake (Anton Yelchin) and Mati (Lucie Lucas) are two expats who experience a brief but intimate connection in the ancient Portuguese city of Porto. He s an American loner exiled from his family. She s a student from France embroiled in an affair with one of her professors. After spotting each other from a distance at an archeological site and then again at a train station and a cafe , Jake works up the courage to approach Mati and they embark on a night of carefree intimacy. This romantic encounter is viewed from years later, both characters still haunted by the powerful connection they shared.
From filmmaker Gabe Klinger comes his debut film “Porto”, a film written by Klinger and Larry Gross (writer for “48 Hrs., “Another 48 Hrs.”, “True Crime”).
The film stars the late Anton Yelchin (“Star Trek”, “Like Crazy”, “Hearts in Atlantis”), Lucie Lucas (“Clem”, “Daddy Cool”), Paulo Calatre (“Bad Investigate”, “Madre Paula”, “Hay Road”) and Francoise Lebrun (“Julie & Julia”, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”).
And now “Porto” will be released on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
“Porto” is a coastal city in Portugal where film takes place. It begins with a scene of Jake Kleeman (portrayed by Anton Yelchin) and Mati Vargnier (portrayed by Lucie Lucas) in bed together and the two looking at each other.
Fast forward to present time and Jake is much older, sitting at Cafe Ceuta Restaurante with his dog and stays there until closing and then walking by the restaurant Cunha. Jake revisits the spots where he and Mati had visited.
His life is uneventful, as Jake was never a guy who wanted a career.  He is a guy that has a bad back and a guy who knows one thing, he has fallen in love with Madi.
The film then shows us different chapters in the perspective of Jake, Mati and what happened between Jake and Mati when they were together.
When he wakes up after spending a night with Mati, he puts together her shelves and puts her photos up and coming inside along with Mati is Joao Monteiro Oliveira (portrayed by Paulo Calatre). For Jake, he can’t understand why Mati brought Joao to the apartment.
As Jake and Mati finally talk, he wants to kiss and make love to her but she doesn’t want to pursue anything with him any longer.
Jake doesn’t understand why she doesn’t want anything to do with him and devastated that Mati doesn’t want anything to do with him. Obsessed, he tries to beg and plead but he is arrested and told to no longer see Mati again.
For Mati’s character, we see Lucie raising her daughter, while Joao comes to visit his daughter without calling Lucie. We see that the relationship between the two are strained. And she thinks back when she was an archaeology student and at the dig site, she sees Jake who transports rocks (near the dig site) and two see each other for the first time.
We see Mati visiting her mother (portrayed by Francoise Lebrun) and when she meets her mother, the two talk about men and living alone.
And then for the next chapter, we learn more about Jake and Mati, how they met each other and what transpired that night.
VIDEO:
“Porto” is presented in 2:35:1 and 1:37:1. Filmmaker Gabe Klinger experimented with three types of film including a Super 8 camera he bought as a teenager. The film features three different types of cameras and a lot of footage is experimental and artistic. And as one can expect, with the Super 8 footage, you’re going to have different types of quality but for the most part, the majority of the film looks great in HD.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Porto” is presented in English, French and Portuguese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0. The film is primarily dialogue and music-driven and both are crystal clear.
Subtitles are in English, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Porto” comes with the following special features:
- Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater – (1:10:02) A documentary directed by Gabe Klinger featuring filmmakers James Benning and Richard Linklater
- Audio Commentary – Featuring an audio commentary by filmmaker Gabe Klinger
- Outakes – (2:16) Featuring outtakes from “Porto”.
- Making of Documentary – (4:37) A short making-of documentary with behind-the-scenes footage.
- Portuguese News Report – (3:52) A news report about filming “Porto” in Portugal.
- Super 7 Footage with Chantal Akerman’s unused voiceover – (4:01) Featuring Super 7 Footage, some that were used at the end credits and a voiceover with filmmaker Chantal Akerman.
- Trailer
EXTRAS:
Featuring a booklet essay by Michael Sicinski.
Gabe Klinger crafts a film that no doubt pays a little homage to cinema’s past, interjecting his own experimental style with the use of Super 8 film but creating a storyline which gives the viewers the opportunity to make their own mind of why these characters who have wonderful sexual chemistry and feel they are right for each other, are not with each other.
Anton Yelchin, in one of his last films before his tragic death in 2016, plays the role of Jake Kleeman in the past and present.
The beginning of the film establishes Jake of the present as a man who can not forget the woman of his past. Always hoping he will someday see her in the places they visit. Unfortunately, Jake is a man who lives an uneventful life, has no motivation to do anything in his life but to take on odd jobs, walk his dog and dwell about the woman who is no longer in his life.
The film establishes that he fell hard for an archaeology student named Mati (portrayed by Lucie Lucas).
As for Lucie, her present time is different. She is a single parent and she now has a bad relationship with her ex-husband Joao Monteiro Oliveira (portrayed by Paulo Calatre), a professor that she had an affair with when she was a student and gave birth to their child.
And she wonders about her life of not pursuing love and wonders if she will grow old alone like her mother (portrayed by Francoise Lebrun).
Suffice to say, these two individuals in the present are not happy, while Jake is the one most deeply affected.
In the third chapter, we learn how Jake and Mati meet and what happens when the two are at a cafe and Jake gets the courage to go up to Mati and start talking with her. The two have a wonderful night filled with a lot of sex but while watching their story together, there are numerous red flags with both individuals that probably is the reason why they never became a true couple.
The two are somewhat free-spirited people, with Mati being a person who is educated and intrigued by Jake, she also has an undisclosed mental health issue which is never discussed too much.
Jake on the other hand is a guy with no motivation, living a banal life and seeing the past and present Jake, he is kind of a creeper with no life goals. Just wanting to live for the day and live a simple life. We learn that he may be hard-up on money due to his aggressive nature of him trying to get women to buy him a drink. Getting kicked out of the clubs and really, there is no motivation with this character other than him falling in love and falling hard for a woman named Mati, which he had a one night stand with.
One can watch “Porto” and come up with different answers of why the two didn’t work out. I was thinking more about her daughter and wanting to have a life and a husband that could provide income benefiting the two of them. Jake may be great in bed, but could he even take care of anyone when he barely can take care of himself?
But the the film does show how both are alone, knowing that they had each other, loved each other, albeit only for a short while, as reality possibly sunk in for Mati of who would be the much better man beyond the sex.
“Porto” also comes with numerous special features including an audio commentary by filmmaker Gabe Klinger and also included is Klinger’s award-winning documentary, “Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater” and much more.
The film looks great in HD and the lossless audio features crystal clear dialogue and music.
Overall, Gabe Klinger’s “Porto” is a film that gives you the pieces to put together a puzzle of “what happened to Jake and Mati?”. A film that I enjoyed for Klinger’s experimental use of Super 8 and also wonderful music to set the mood of the film. But also a film with an interesting take on love, longing, loss and heartbreak. Recommended!
