Interviews

Interview: João Canijo – Bad Living (Mal Viver)

Published on November 20, 2023

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.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.