An intimate view of the director’s relationship with the knowledge of why his father died, a truth that was hidden from him and then altered over the years, until it was revealed during a family member’s drunken moment.
Like the numerous AIDS memorials, physical or digital, RICHARD carries the simple beauty of giving voice, body, and justice to those who died from the disease without the truth being said, processed, and respected in life — as was the case with the filmmaker’s father, who passed away in 1993. With The Sweetest Taboo playing, Manuel Wetscher honors him and allows Richard to exist, even belatedly, without secrets as an HIV carrier, even if only through archival footage. A sweet historical reparation that starts from the intimate to dialogue with a world where, 32 years later, the cure still doesn’t exist, and the fight strongly continues. (Pedro Gonçalves Ribeiro)
