Aquarius

Aquarius (2016) is a Brazilian drama from director Kleber Mendonça Filho, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Sônia Braga plays Clara, a sixty-five-year-old widow and retired music critic who survived cancer and has no intention of being pushed around.

Clara is the last resident left in an aging beachfront building in Recife. Every other owner has sold to a development company that wants to tear the place down and put up a luxury tower. The firm comes at her in stages — polite offers and fat checks first, then pressure, petty sabotage and barely veiled threats. But Clara has lived a whole life inside these walls: shelves of vinyl records, the memory of her late husband, her grown children. She isn't going anywhere. Maeve Jinkings and Irandhir Santos fill out the supporting cast.

For two-plus hours the film rests almost entirely on Braga, and her performance ranks among the most talked-about in recent Brazilian cinema. Aquarius premiered in competition at Cannes; it's a slow, sensual study of memory, class and dignity rather than a plot-driven thriller. It's for viewers who want a character piece anchored by one commanding lead. Stream Aquarius (2016) online on iFILM.