HBR Fest: Verônica

Maurício Farias' new film follows Verônica (Andréa Beltrão), a divorced teacher, who works in a periphery poor school in Rio. One day, after class, Leandro (Matheus de Sá), a seven year old kid is waiting for his parents by the school gate. They don't appear. She decides to take him home. When she enters in the slum and discovers that his parents were killed by the drug trafficking gang. The boy's life is in danger and she discovers a network of police corruption, that may involve her cop ex-husband, as she tries to protect him. This is a really effective thriller due to the uniformly great performances and the tight direction. Once the danger is introduced, the tension doesn't let up leading the audience on a high-speed journey. It just premiered at the Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival as the closing film.