There is a change of styles from the intro’s sepulchral tableaus to something more loose and fluid, and Muritiba excels at infusing his drama with subtle state-of-the-nation resonance.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 19, 2023

It’s a film field with ache and passion... it offers hope rather than unending despair. T

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 1, 2023

Muritaba avoids the obvious at every turn. Where Hollywood might turn a story like this into a vulgar piece of exploitation, in Private Desert both Daniel and Sara are conflicted, complex people...

| Original Score: B | Nov 3, 2022

One becomes certain that “Private Desert” is the type of unshowy treasure at risk of being overlooked...

| Sep 13, 2022

Enters the dangerous realm of fantasy and wish-fulfillment, revealing that the makers of this film are as recklessly naïve and morally questionable as their protagonists.

| Sep 8, 2022

Muritiba understands that any portrait of masculinity that fixates too intensely on the cruelties and self-denials of machista culture are futile. Instead, he finds grace in stolen moments of tenderness...

| Aug 25, 2022

Aly Muritiba’s film is always telling the viewer that death-ness and trans-ness bear the intimacy of Siamese sisters.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 22, 2022

This Brazilian drama is a welcome and assured intervention into that country's calcified ideals about desire and masculinity.

| Nov 23, 2021