An Unforgettable Year: Autumn is the second in the teen romance series. It’s a stand-alone story so there’s no need to have seen An Unforgettable Year: Summer, but the similarities in themes certainly suggest that fans of one are going to want to stick around for all four films. Autumn is also a better constructed film than Summer so the series is trending upwards.
2023
Directed by: Lazaro Ramos
Screenplay by: Keka Reis, Caroline Fioratti
Based on the short story by Babi Dewet
Starring: Gabz, Lucas Leto
Themes revolve around a determined young woman trying to make a place for herself in the world and ends up falling in love. While Summer showcased Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, Autumn takes place on the bustling Paulista Avenue, the cultural centre of São Paolo, Brazil. If nothing else, the series should pique interest in Brazil tourism.
One of the first things that stands out is how well the films have been cast. Anna (Gabz) is a freshman in law school trying to get hired as an intern at a law firm. Her main personality trait is that she hates music. That’s a weird thing to base your personality around and even weirder to have to mention it every five minutes for the first half of the movie, but unsurprisingly Anna has a backstory for why she gets upset hearing apparently any type of music. The actress however is delightful, she’s managed to make the very serious and studious Anna into a fun character. There’s also a ton of musical sequences for a character that hates music (because of course she doesn’t actually hate music).
João Paulo (Lucas Leto) is a street musician. The opposite of Anna since he has no plans in life and basically just floats from song to song. Again, this character works because of the actor. He has a great smile, is very charismatic, has a nice voice, and can display all of his reactions on his face. When he’s being funny or falling in love you can read it all from his face. Which is a good trait to have for a romantic comedy protagonist.
There is some really nice editing and production design in this movie which helps make each plot turn come to life. There are a lot of musical sequences all very nicely performed, and Anna and JP’s initial flirtation and blossoming romance is handled well. The film slows down considerably in the second half when JP becomes inexplicably clingy and Anna is annoyingly naïve.
An Unforgettable Year: Autumn is better and more creatively constructed than its sister film An Unforgettable Year: Summer, and there’s even more music even though the first one is set during Carnaval. It’s a fun teen rom-com and should be an engaging watch for its target audience.
