Interview: João Canijo – Bad Living (Mal Viver)

Taking home the Jury Prize at the 2023 Berlinale, Portuguese auteur João Canijo‘s latest Bad Living (Mal Viver) is the director’s masterpiece, examining the lives of five women tied to a seaside hotel which also happens to be their prison. Notably, the film is a diptych with the filmmaker’s other 2023 feature, Living Bad (also premiering in Berlin), which utilizes playwright August Strindberg in examining the equally dysfunctional guests of the hotel. I spoke with João Canijo about Bad Living, Portugal’s official submission in the category of Best International Feature for the 96th Academy Awards. Canijo discusses his filmmaking techniques as well as the narrative subtexts of the film.