Rogério Nunes's new adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness skips over Apocalypse Now's near contemporary reimagining of the book and launches into the future.
Not too far, but far enough for the main drug on the market to be called "cybercaine." And rather than set the story in an explicitly colonial context with foreigners in a foreign land, Heart of Darkness (2025) follows Brazilian cops in Rio de Janeiro as they make their way deeper into a favela by boat in search of a missing Captain Kurtz.
"Cops" may also not be exactly right; there's talk of a corporation and loyalty to it among the characters who wear badges and mention arresting dealers, and the relationship between the city and this corporation is never made quite clear. Much isn't made clear in this just over 80-minute film as it rushes forward. Albeit, some of that lack of clarity may be the result of a currently overly literal subtitle translation that's regularly somewhat difficult to parse.
More than a slow descent into madness, the movie feels like a sprint through various locales as the group of cops and their escort, the boat's owner/captain and the stray teenager he's taken under his wing, search for the mysterious Captain Kurtz. They help a poor man with a car problem and are then invited to dinner by his family that is generous with the little they have.
They stop to see if they can suss out some information at a concert that turns into a threatening PSA from a local trans woman drug-lord to her competitors. They visit a preacher who emphasizes that tithing is a commandment and fleeces them for scraps of information.
Each stop comments on some aspect of Brazil's social and economic landscape with varying degrees of humor and subtlety, without ever falling prey to preaching. This is the focus of the film and its brisk pacing leaves little time for developing character, mood, or narrative.
The basics of the novel are there: a man who works for a morally dubious if not outright evil organization is sent into territory the organization makes claims on, but has not yet conquered, to find a man who has abandoned their structure to commit himself to the conquering. Here that organization is the seemingly privatized police force, the searcher is a lieutenant, the conqueror is a captain, and the territory is the inner favela overrun with the cybercaine trade.
It's not hard to follow, it's just hard to get invested. There's some talk about Lieutenant Marlon being a snitch who needs to "redeem himself before the corporation." But beyond this telling, there isn't much showing of who this man is. Similarly, Kurtz is said to have ordered a brutal attack on the favela that makes up the film's bravura opening and gets a fantastic introduction sequence, without any glimpses into his psyche or allure.
What keeps Heart of Darkness (2025) from succumbing to a culturally specific message movie without anything to offer but its social commentary is its aesthetic. The sharp-edged character designs, somewhat choppy animation, and muted color palette give it a uniquely gritty look and feel. During the opening attack sequence, several police are drawn as flat black shapes of armed men without any dimension or shading. Dreams are portrayed in stark white line drawings that move frantically on pitch black backgrounds, evoking a chaos attempting to fill a void.
The "camera" moves through and interacts with the world in highly stylized shots. At one point, it tracks down a policeman's arm from the top of his shoulder to the muzzle of the gun he has pointed at a man's head. Another moment has an over-the-shoulder shot of a child looking at a computer screen image of the favela push into the screen to become identical with it, and then just as it seems the scene will transition to the favela as setting, a cursor appears.
The film's soundscape is also distinctly Brazilian at every register. Heavy and atmospheric baile funk beats score sequences of action, while jaunty acoustic folk music accompanies the few reflective moments. The concert the characters visit is a funk show, and for a short time the movie goes full music video with strobing colored lights dyeing the screen various hues of blue and purple as the musicians and a good amount of shaking asses are given focus.
Heart of Darkness (2025) doesn't quite succeed as the bold reimagining of Conrad's novel it aims for, but it manages to create a distinct sonic and visual world, which is valuable in itself. While the movie may not have mass appeal (and sadly likely won't see significant distribution), it's very much worth seeking out for those interested in animation as well as lovers of the novel looking for an interesting, if not quite compelling new interpretation.
The film enjoys its U.S. premiere at the 2026 Animation First Film Festival.