White Irish Drinkers
Synopsis
Lisbon, Portugal. Present day. For Alex and Bruno, it could be any other time or place. An old and failed English actor, Alex drags out a solitary existence recording voiceovers for cheap travel videos, drinking himself to sleep at the local bar, and ridiculing the world and others with his cynical wit.
Bruno, a reclusive young Portuguese locksmith, devotes himself to his obsession—fighting the passing of time—by breaking into other people’s homes to make a record of their lives and identities by “borrowing” their possessions, which he then meticulously organizes in a large archive at the back of his shop.
Although strangers to one another, the men’s lives are set to change when Irene, an attractive Portuguese painter, moves into the apartment next to Alex’s.
Joyful and passionate about life, Irene is everything Alex and Bruno are not, and the two men’s lives begin to gravitate obsessively around her.
Then one day, inexplicably, Irene disappears.
Alex and Bruno overcome their initial hostility to each other as they join forces to search Irene’s apartment for clues to her whereabouts, and slowly move in, forgetting about the world outside. In this safe haven, they begin to grudgingly accept one another, and a trusting friendship slowly develops.
When they discover Irene might be in Spain, and in danger, these two unlikely heroes decide to embark on a mission to rescue her. The journey might turn out to be pointless. But they’ll make it together. As friends.
Narrative Feature Award Winner 2008
