Can one imagine 2012 without Tabu and Holy Motors? Tabu was a blessing for cinephiles and remains one of the greatest films since the 21st century In Lisbon, Aurora, near death, dreams of reuniting with her old lover Gian Luca again. However, Luca arrives too late and tells her friend of their forbidden love, which took place 50 years ago in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. The Portuguese colonizers live in a small community in luxurious villas, enjoying hunting and ‘60s pop music. They seem oblivious of the independence struggle brewing in Mozambique. Miguel gomes films a seemingly eternal and dreamlike melodrama, as Aurora leaves her husband and the settler community to flee with Luca into the African jungle. As in Murnau’s movies, the lovers break taboos, and their love is cursed. The tragedy that they face is not only connected to the lovers, but also to the era itself, as revolutionaries would soon drive the Portuguese colonizers away from their land. Tabu borrows the form of a silent film to tell a love story, but director Miguel Gomes knows all too well that no nostalgia is possible in the face of the march of history. (SEO Seunghee)