This article appeared in the September 19, 2025 edition of The Film Comment Letter, our free weekly newsletter featuring original film criticism and writing. “Time destroys everything, but it also preserves everything, then brings it back to us in unexpected ways,” an archivist explains near the film’s end. I was beguiled by the way Fazendeiro and co-DPs Robin Fresson and Marta Simões’s camera kept panning over to a midday moon. We see trees draped in Jell-O hues, clouds that distinctly resemble cotton candy, and phantom waves blanketing real ones. His book Nothing But Time: Conversations with Peter Mettler on Life and Cinema will be published by Anvil Press in October.