Film Review: FUNK: From Brazil Comes a Raw Look at a Risque Singer’s Trials and Tribulations [Tribeca 2026]

Thomas Duffy June 5, 2026Last Updated: June 5, 2026

Funk Review

Funk (2026) Film Review from the 25th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Aly Muritiba, written by Fernando Barcellos, Taisa Machado and Aly Muritiba and starring Duda Santos, MC Nem, Lellê, Kibba, Crazy Jeff, Cláudio Gabriel and Luana Oliveira.

Talented filmmaker Aly Muritiba’s Funk is a portrait of a female artist with no filters – an ambitious singer known as MC Sabrina (Duda Santos). Sabrina makes her way through the Rio favela baile music circuit with a little help from her close friend(s) and some very risque language that makes the music that she’s presenting to her audiences geared for a very acquired taste. Santos is basically the whole show here and whether you like the movie or not may fully depend on how well you relate to MC Sabrina as a character. Sabrina is often maddening to watch and if she weren’t so ambitious, it would be pretty hard to root for her.

Santos has the raw role of MC Sabrina down to a science. Sabrina’s mom, Priscila, is played rather effectively by MC Nem. Priscila has seen better days as a musical artist, herself, and the movie revolves around scenes in which this mother and daughter often fight and argue about things both trivial and important. Nothing is off limits in their arguments, but they often focus on each other’s shortcomings to fuel their fights.

MC Sabrina’s songs are almost always about sex. They’re wild and uninhibited takes on body parts and where they may end up in sexual situations, if you catch my drift. This film is something the audience will either embrace or push away, depending on the individual viewer watching the movie. Lellê serves as Rayssa, MC Sabrina’s friend and manager, who fails to get the business details of Sabrina’s shows exactly on the mark, resulting in a bit of financial loss for the pair. Rayssa and Sabrina have an unbreakable bond, though, that may just keep them together through thick and thin.

Sabrina goes off on a rant at one point about how the men are profiting on her performances and making more money than she is all around. Duda Santos is actually fine in this role, adding charisma, spunk and determination to the part being played here even though the film can bounce around a lot of different topics just like the subjects were put into a pinball machine and shot all across the board with no certain goal in mind.

A lot happens in Funk, but there’s not a great deal of plot development to thrust the film forward. This movie ultimately rests on Duda Santos and Lellê’s characters’ interaction together for a lot of the film’s running time. Also, MC Nem’s Priscila is vividly brought to life by a committed supporting turn from the actress at hand. MC Nem rips into her role with vigor and makes us respect her character regardless of whether that character is objectively a good mother or not. The audience may think she’s a pretty good mother even though MC Sabrina begs to differ at certain times throughout the film.

Funk can run the gamut with some standard story lines featured in previous films of this genre, all totally on view here. There’s the fighting between the mother and MC Sabrina and MC Sabrina and the new manager she obtains. For all the film’s familiar plot elements are also the unique songs that MC Sabrina sings so well on stage, if one can get past the explicit lyrics.

There are movies that aren’t made for everyone and Funk is one of them. At one point, MC Sabrina gets the audience all wound up in a scene where the character puts some kids in her car and drives them around which threatens her credibility as a serious artist in the film. As Sabrina tries to expand her talents and make more money, she is always three steps behind every one else in terms of common sense due to her own character flaws.

MC Sabrina’s aforementioned manager she employs is an older man who takes no BS from her. Things get pretty heavy handed when MC Nem’s Priscila shows up at Sabrina’s fake birthday party and all hell breaks loose for them which threatens the manager’s representation of Sabrina. Will the mother and daughter characters work past their flaws, or will this pair fail to grow to respect one another due to their long-standing bad interpretations of each other?

The performances from Duda Santos and MC Nem are top notch. They argue and bicker in a compelling fashion that makes one wonder where their relationship will end up going by the time the movie reaches its ending.

Another annoying moment comes when MC Sabrina has sex with a guy in her dressing room which will probably dampen her career when her manager finds out. Sabrina has little common sense, but she can often rock it on the dance floor and on-stage so it becomes pretty believable when MC Sabrina’s act turns out to be a pretty big hit.

Funk has the ingredients of a great film, but it’s ultimately only a good one. A film that can annoy and entertain, simultaneously, is typically a challenging kind of movie that, when done right, can push buttons and be very provocative. Funk is such a movie. You probably won’t hear more daring sexually suggestive lyrics in songs in any other movies this year so check out Funk if you think that type of music could be enjoyable for you.

Rating: 7/10

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