After Gabriel Buchmann, a Brazilian student, died during a yearlong backpacking trip, his friend Fellipe Barbosa retraced his journey, finding and connecting with people the young man encountered along the way. Forgoing straightforward documentary, Barbosa presents a lovely work of fact-based imagination. Gabriel and the Mountain, though framed by Gabriel’s death, is entirely about the joy of being alive, unfolding across East Africa, following our spirited young Brazilian (played by actor João Pedro Zappa) as he meanders. Gabriel’s series of minor, picaresque misadventures, including those of the heart, build into a portrait of the backpacker as a young man: Gabriel is open-hearted and often naïve, loving yet sometimes selfish, curious but tainted by Western arrogance. In a stroke of true-false genius, Gabriel’s African acquaintances play themselves, adding a warm, poignant layer to his loving celebration of youth, innocence, and friendship. (JS)