Pão da Felicidade (2012)

Breaking bread...

Here is a movie that finally gives the credit and love bread deserves, putting it in the centre and showing that it can not only been made in different shapes and sizes, and different flavours but that it can even give people a feeling of belonging, purpose and just the thought of getting to eat more bread can even give those in need a reason to live...

The movie has a lot of beautiful shots and I understand that it has the potential to move and touch people, just not me ... I do not know if it is my mindset or a general numbness that I have towards stories that seem to romanticise the simple life or if it was the setting that put me off of it but. For those who do like to fantasise about the simple life in the country side surrounded by fields forests with a lake view this movie is definitely something for you!

The food looks amazing, the characters seem and sweet, some are cuter than other but over all kind of bland,,,
also the couple seems genuinely nice and the whole book feel to it is soothing... Had I not had enough of the countryside, having spent a few years there myself and realising it is not my type of bread... I too would have wanted to open a bed and bread, I mean bed and breakfast where I get to meet broken people that can be mended with bread...

All in all a pretty well made movie, with a lot of niceness to it...

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I'm sure a lot of people will adore this film. It's gentle and soft, and people being kind to each other.

I, however, found it artificial in terms of story and visuals, and too on the nose. The characters sometimes moved through the scenery like puppets placed on a stage. Or like a pop-up picture book, if you will.

The scenes -- following parallels of life stages and seasons -- and the sub-stories felt clichèd and stale, the visuals were Ghibli-like, but without the depth Ghibli brings.
Do not look for any kind of realism here -- I mean, how would a café like this work without going bankrupt within the first year?
Especially the ending was so contrived I thought my eyes would roll out of their sockets.
(I waited for the moment that everything would be revealed as a picture book written by the main character, which would have made sense at least, but no!)

So,
Did I like it? -- No.
Was it good? -- It had high production value, and acting was superb (as expected from these actors). The story was a miss for me, but as I said, it will be loved by others.
Would I recommend it? -- Not really, no. Only if I know that the specific person loves these kinds of gentle and soft stories and is looking for something, what did people call it? "healing and heart-warming".

P.S.
Also, as a German, I have *opinions* about bread. Half of what he baked might have been パン but it was certainly not bread.

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