‘Gugu’s World’ review: Brazil’s Oscar submission is colourful, compassionate coming-of-age delight

Dir: Allan Deberton. Brazil. 2026. 93mins

A winning combination of sensitivity and sentimentality makes Gugu’s World a touching coming-of-age drama, in which director Allan Deberton captures the life of a queer youth in the backlands of northeast Brazil. The bond between the boy and his maternal grandmother lies at the heart of a tale of grief, resilience and the struggle to be true to one’s self. 

A winning combination of sensitivity and sentimentality 

This sweetly appealing title won Berlin’s Generation Kplus Crystal Bear and grand jury prize before embarking on a busy festival run, and its selection as Brazil’s official Oscar submission should also raise its profile. Paris Filmes will release domestically on November 5.

Yuri Gomes gives a terrific central performance as Gugu, an 11-year old who lives with his loving grandmother Dilma (Teca Pereira). His poise, commanding presence and natural flair make him totally convincing. Indeed, Deberton’s ability to secure lively, unselfconscious performances from all the children featured in the film is a highlight.

A promising footballer, Gugu is a boy who also loves his beads and bangles; he always augments his colourful attire with a lick of make-up, a sprinkle of glitter or a fetching scarf. When we first see Gugu, he takes to the football field in a red top, canary yellow socks and powder blue trainers. His life is a riot of colour, something echoed in production design which emphasises a house of pink and blue walls, windows made of coloured glass and an alcove of photos and souvenirs that is a shrine to Gugu’s late mother Eliane (Lu Nunes). Gugu also loves music, with Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’ a signature tune that is woven throughout the film. 

Not everyone is accepting of Gugu. His father Batista (Lazaro Ramos) has remarried and forged a new life for himself in which Gugu is an awkward fit at best. Batista is more comfortable with the idea of Gugu as a star football player rather than someone who can command the dance floor. And while Gugu has school friends, he also has a nemesis in Francisco (Nathyel Martins) and his posse of bad boys. Yet Gugu always stands his ground. “Even in heels, I still play better than you,” he taunts Francisco.

The screenplay by Andre Araujo consistently paints Gugu as someone who is sure of who he is, and underlines that his relationship with his grandmother allows him to be himself. There is nothing more comforting than lying cradled in her arms. Pereira’s spirited older woman is an especially engaging character; still in the mood for romance, she is unconventional and his biggest defender in the scrubby backwater in which they live. Deberton makes good use of his locations, especially the Araujo Lima reservoir. As the waters subside, the top of a church is eventually glimpsed – but the more the lost city is revealed, the more Dilma starts to sink into the onset of dementia. 

While the first half of the film has a sunny, optimistic vice, it grows more distant in its latter stages. The colours become less vibrant, the mood more melancholic as Gugu has to assume responsibilities beyond his years and watch his comfort zone start to crumble around him.

Throughout, the strength of Gugu’s World lies in Deberton’s compassionate eye. There are few real villains here, just ordinary people with flaws and failings trying to make the most of their lives. Gugu might occasionally picture himself as a superhero, complete with cape fluttering in the breeze, but the film’s ultimate charm lies in its assertion that there is heroism in the everyday business of living and loving.