Brazilian writer-directors Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas' horror-drama 'Good Manners' world-premiered in competition at the Swiss extravaganza.

Writer-directors Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra mix monster tropes with social themes in this stylish werewolf drama.

Clara (Isabél Zuaa) could be the only nanny with no references ever to ace a job interview, but then again, how many prospective employees are called upon to care for a pregnant and unwed somnambulist (Marjorie Estiano) who, during a midnight stroll, wrings a blood cocktail out of a live cat’s neck? And where in the job description does it say, “Change the dirty diaper of a newborn werewolf”? Writer-directors Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra have a bad habit of over-packing secondary plots (and musical interludes), many of which are here simply to add shock. So why the recommendation? Being a sucker for werewolf pictures, particularly those in which filmmakers are gauche enough to do ruinous damage to young children, it was impossible not to get caught up in all the aggressive plot pilfering. (The filmmakers have a grand habit of stealing from others and making it their own.) And for the pure sake of nostalgia, the animated exteriors have the look and feel of an Albert Whitlock matte painting. (Do your homework!).

If you watched just the first half-hour of Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra’s “Good Manners,” you’d have no idea that it is, ostensibly, a gothic horror picture.

The film is a rebellion of surfaces that never quite reaches, or emanates from, the underpinning roots of its fable.

Brazilian drama is a a compellingly unconventional addition to the lycan movie genre