Some mysteries are meant to be solved, others are better suited to remain ambiguous forever, which is not something that particularly aligns with viewers’ desire to get all the answers we seek, but which has been the foundation behind some truly tremendous art. José Fonseca e Costa implicitly understood this concept, and used it as the basis for his adaptation of the novel Ballad of Dog Beach (Portuguese: Balada da Praia dos Cães) by José Cardoso Pires, in which the author so daringly challenges form and convention in favour of telling a story that is complex, layered and deeply confusing, while also being profoundly captivating and peculiar in a way that feels like it has something to say, rather than just being a jumble of incomprehensible ideas, which is often the case with these more ambiguous mystery films. The film tells the story of a group of individuals as they navigate the circumstances surrounding the discovery of a body buried on a beach somewhere in Portugal. The focus shifts between the deceased’s accomplices as they try to evade the authorities, knowing that they will eventually be found and forced to discuss their association with this figure, who was quite notorious in local politics at the time. The detective tasked with solving this case proves to be far more difficult to decode than he initially imagined. Filled with unique elements that can be confounding to those who aren’t willing to surrender entirely to the bizarre ideas that are situated throughout this film, and formed from the most meticulous attention to detail, The Ballad of Dog Beach manages to be quite inventive without redefining the genre as a whole, instead choosing to challenge conventions from a distance, which results in a fascinating and complex drama that is as daring as it is challenging.

The most important component of a mystery story is the structure – without a well-planned guideline on how the plot will unfold, such a film would become truly lacklustre and uninteresting since the entire premise is built on how it reconfigures common ideas into something more profound. Ballad of Dog Beach presents its narrative through two parallel temporal streams for the most part, with a few additional pieces taken from other moments in the lives of these characters, which creates a rich and evocative tapestry in which we not only get to know these people and their role in this story as a whole but also are provided invaluable insights into their internal difficulties and the journey they took to this particular moment – and through presenting it in an unorthodox, non-linear manner, Costa manages to avoid any sense of needless exposition since every bit of context is gleaned through the narrative itself, rather than having to spend too much time explaining the motives and background to each of these characters. Taking the form of episodic vignettes leaping between past and present (with even a few flirtations with the near future), the film presents several scenes that may seem initially disjointed, but soon come to make sense when we start to see the connections that exist between them, which are subtle but powerful and prove that the director was always a few steps ahead, infusing even the most unexpected of moments with rich, evocative storytelling that carries immense layers and proves to be far more effective in its technique of exploring this murder and the people involved. It is wildly unique and while it may seem slightly flowery at times, the director ensures that there is a level of simplicity and that the film never once becomes overly didactic or unbearably complex, and instead was able to develop on its fundamental ideas in its own time.

The Ballad of Dog Beach takes a lot of inspiration from classic murder stories, insofar as it is a mostly character-based narrative, and while most of the film is spent establishing a particular kind of tone, the director ensures that everyone in this cast is given something valuable to do, which both progresses the plot and expands on the broader world in which these characters reside. These are not particularly easy roles to play, since a lot of the story requires the actors to showcase a more internal set of qualities that can sometimes be challenging, especially when they are given such ambigious individuals to portray. Yet, everyone makes it work, and the cast is a sprawling ensemble of talented individuals, each one well-developed through close collaboration between the director and his cast. Highlights of the cast include Raul Solnado as the dedicated investigator (as well as Spanish acting icon Mario Pardo in a small but substantial role as one of his colleagues – the film should have used him more prominently), and Assumpta Serna, Sergi Mateu and Pedro Efe as the trio of accomplices that find themselves descending into paranoia after the discovery of their colleague’s body, which unearths a sinister plot that sends each one of them into an existential spiral. Every actor in this film is superbly well-cast, and the entire premise is brilliant in how it uses each one of them to push the story forward. The Ballad of Dog Beach is told through overlapping narratives, each one offering the perspective of a different character, in the hands of a lesser director, this would have become too unwieldy and confusing, but Costa’s self-assured approach, coupled with the exceptional work he does with his colleagues in the cast helps elevate the story to exceptional heights, never once coming across as too overly dense or manipulative in terms of the story being told, which is immediately the sign of a truly wonderful film.

Ultimately, the reason why The Ballad of Dog Beach becomes so brilliant despite its sometimes limited scope (which was entirely purposeful and integrated into the plot in intriguing ways) is that it doesn’t aim to be the most faithful of adaptations, at least in terms of structure and approach to the material. The narrative is quite straightforward when we remove these elements, so nothing much changes in terms of the plot. However, it’s the execution that feels so incredibly inventive, which is where the director showcases his extraordinary strength as both a storyteller and visual stylist, which he established through a two-decade career as one of Portugal’s most interesting filmmakers. Both in terms of the visual component and the story being told, this film is a fascinating piece of cinema, and Costa develops the ideas extremely well, never once falling into the same hackneyed techniques that we might expect from such a dense mystery film. Drawing a lot of inspiration from film noir, particularly in the tone, the director combines classical tropes of the genre with images that capture the natural beauty of Portugal, as well as the iconic architecture that makes it one of the most beautiful countries in Europe, a sentiment we don’t often find in contemporary cinema. Whether it’s the sweeping landscapes of the countryside or the iconic cityscape of Lisbon that recurs throughout, The Ballad of Dog Beach is an exceptionally well-constructed film, and the tone starts to interweave with these mysterious images to create a complex, fascinating atmosphere. The story at the heart of this film is important, but what truly makes it remarkable is the mood that drives the story and makes it so wonderfully peculiar and evocative, driving the story and creating a tense but achingly beautiful atmosphere in which the many fragments can start to develop in unexpectedly effective ways, the foundation of what makes this film so fascinating.

A very strange but entrancing masterpiece of Portuguese cinema, The Ballad of Dog Beach is a fascinating glimpse into the past, carefully curated by a director who takes an inarguably dense text and transforms it into a poignant and wonderfully endearing work. We may not always understand the events transpiring on screen – it’s a dense, complex novel that never provides us with the answers, so it is only natural to expect a similar approach to the film adaptation, which captures the same tone while adding layers of visual ingenuity onto the proceedings, which only makes it a more vibrant examination of these bold, captivating ideas. Costa is not a director who receives much attention, despite a long and fascinating career, and this isn’t even considered his greatest work (although it is slowly starting to be recognized as a far more captivating piece of cinema than was initially reported, and is gradually rising out of obscurity as more people discover its brilliance), but its unique tone, fascinating style and powerful approach to these underlying themes immediately makes it one of the more effective mystery films to come out of Portugal, being one of the country’s rare ventures into film noir, a genre that has not been commonly found in this region, but which Costa brilliantly puts together as a poignant, compelling character study masquerading as a deeply provocative psychological drama, where the spectre of the past is woven together with deeper themes relating to culture and identity, all ultimately forming a deeply effective drama that may not give us the answers we crave, but instead offers us something far more valuable, which is a thought-provoking, mystifying examination of the human condition from a decidely more unconventional perspective.