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An error has ocurred. Please try againSome of them have already been released, but had not when I added them and I have not watched them yet.
See also my list Brazilian movies: up to three films for each state.
There is also the list of my favorite documentaries, including the ones not from Brasil.
Add: "Preto contra branco" (https://youtu.be/r_xkDHHGWx8 ), "A linha imaginária" (https://youtu.be/uY4CN1H7z0g ), "Elas da Favela" (https://youtu.be/Re8DQ0t1BbA ), ""Feminino cangaço", and "Retomada", documentary about Brazilian cinema by Karim Akadiri Soumaïla, "Trem, trilhos, Trump" - I tive it a 7 (https://cultura.estadao.com.br/blogs/marcelo-rubens-paiva/trem-trilhos-trump/). I would also like to add "De um Fernando para o Brasil", from [link=]Luccas Soares[/link] - a short film which is well filmed but has chosen a quite stupid and boring hippie guy who just repeat a supposedly rebel contentional wisdom as if it were the smartest view (I give it a 6).
Also add: "Pacto para a liberdade: uma breve história de Pedro Aleixo"
To be added: Adriana Sager's doc "Central"
Reviews
Verissimo (2024)
Verissimo's writings are not mild; this documentary is
Luis Fernando Veríssimo is one of the greatest Brazilian writers ever. Most filmmakers would make a documentary about him emphasizing his multiple skills and his literary feats. That is not what director Defanti intended to do here. His idiosyncratic approach was entering Verissimo's intimate life few days before his 80th birthday until that celebration, and then catching the man behind the awarded fame. Well, what we see is daily routine of a shy elder in the most natural way possible, listening each environment noise. Verissimo speaks the least he can, and less than everyone surrounding him. Is that the essence of Veríssimo? Well, yes, it is part of him. But... is it the best way to show who is he? I do not think so. He is much more than his age or his shyness. Outcome is sluggish, what is very different from his fierce smart humour. There are few moments which called my attention in the movie, like the contrast between his slow pace and his granddaughter's childhood frenzy, or like the way fans surpass expected limits in contrast to his polite but blasé mood. To resume, the documentary is not a catastrophe, but it is as mild as the performance of Verissimo's football club Internacional that is portrayed in the documentary footage.
Love & Other Drugs (2010)
Jake Gyllenhaal steals the show since the very beginning, and there is also great Anne Hathaway
Amusing, with very funny moments (I laughed loud), a and also moving. It is a film which begins as a comedy of manners with impressive performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, then turns to a romantic comedy (when he has a good chemistry with also very talented Anne Hathaway), and eventually turns to be a drama, a romantic one. It is a love story, but also a film about greed, selfish irresponsible behaviour, capitalism, psychological insecurities, illness, life changes. All performances are very good but, am9ng the smaller roles, I would additionally highlight Judy Greer. I just noticed that this is the fourth film directed by Edward Zwick and that I liked them all; I must pay attention on his filmography.
Vysota (1957)
Ups, but also downs
Vysota is a 1957 Mosfilm movie, with both colour and black and white footage and very brautiful camera moves, besides an interesting setting: the construction of a blast furnace by nomadic specialized workers whose labour takes place in high heights. Stated that, I shall also add that the romantic drama or melodrama is a little tepid and does not engage as other Soviet movies. There are some issues which I am not sure if they are subtly presented in a critical way or if they just normalize the problems: sexism on the one hand, and, on the other hand, a romantized view on risking workers' lives in order to reach production goals. By the way, there is at least one more element that caught my attention: in other movies, often the bad guys who appear as opponents in the script are nobles, or capitalists, os Nazis, but here, although few, they are people from the very socialist production system, including workers as Khaenko, and managers like Deryabin. They may be corrupt, selfish, liars, greedy, lazy, schemers.
Lennon's Last Weekend (2020)
Not a remarkable documentary on John Lennon, but a nice one
There is probably not a single story that is considerably unknown, and even the last days of Lennon's life that are mentioned in the title are not that much explored in the script. There is certainly not a very innovative aesthetic and narrative approach in the movie either. Anyway, it is an interesting documentary, with numerous nice stories and information, good available footage, and may please the fans of John Lennon who do not know everything in detail about his life and career, myself included. By the way, I think it is too bizarre to hear that guy repeatedly compairing John Lennon and Martin Luther King to John Kennedy... a little bit of international history is always useful...
Gorod Zero (1988)
Monty Python, Buñuel and The Truman Show mashup in late years of Soviet Union
This late Soviet movie by Mosfilm, directed by great Russian filmmaker Karen Shakhnazarov, is an absurdist dark absurdist comedy with hilarious bizarre moments. By making a satire of the last years of the Soviet Union, it seems a mashup of Monty Python, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and The Truman Show. I laughed loud! It is greater than the other movie by director Karen Shakhnazarov I had already watched, We're from Jazz, from five years before, which also has comedy, dancing scenes (something recurrent in his filmography), and a discussion about the spreding of Western music and culture.
Palata N°6 (2009)
Brilliant, layered, sophisticated, deep, innovative
Brilliant Mosfilm movie by Karen Shakhnazarov adapted from a text by Anton Chekhov. Extremely innovative, with bright dialogues, beautiful and sophisticated cinematography, highly skilled acting, interesting usage of mockumentary elements. It is layered, deep, hard to synthetize, and opens various thoughts. I am sure that the more I re-visit it, new insights will rise. The old question about what is the limit between sanity and madness is in the core here, but it goes beyond. When being cynical and careless is the mediocre norm (being that little town a metaphor for general mediocrity), clever and critical spirit may be diagnosed as crazy. Dr. Andrey Yefimitch Ragin's path actually seems to cross from one pole to the other. Other characters also could be personally interested in having Ragin labeled as mentally ill. As a matter of fact, Ragin's perception about life conditions changes a lot when he changes his side, confirming that materialistic arguments by Gromov were more correct than his Kantian ones mentioning Diogenes. To resume, it is a major film, with smart philosophical elements.
Amor & Cia (1998)
Marco Nanini, Eça de Queiroz and great art direction in comedy of manners by Helvecio Ratton
Very amusing movie by Helvecio Ratton, dramatic comedy of manners based in a novel by Eça de Queiroz, but taking place in São João del-Rei after the Abolition of Slavery and the arrival of railway, instead of Portugal. The script is an exemple of well made adaptation from book into cinema, and the period art design by Clóvis Bueno is perfect. Marco Nanini is brilliant as usual, and the rest of the cast also goes well: awarded Patrícia Pillar, Alexandre Borges, Rogério Cardoso, Nelson Dantas, Ary França, and so forth. The long shot scene of Godofredo Alves entering his home in orther to surprise his wife Ludovina was great.
Pilgrimage (2017)
Inaide Middle Ages
Pilgramage is quite a good movie about harsh Middle Ages. The film has well built characters and a great costume design. What kind of interest and worldview someone has in the beginning of XIIIth century in Ireland, Rome or France? Are they the same? That is what the film is about, showing the traits of bith medieval Christian faith and European geopolitcs of those times. Perhaps only Tom Holland's character, brither Diarmuid, is beyond those issues, as he shows an empathy which would become more common only later, if I am correct. Perhaps he was the one who was actually touched by God. Perhaps...
The Old Oak (2023)
Another great movie by Ken Loach: precise view of current times
Ken Loach is one of the most sensitive and politically conscious filmmakers ever existed. As his 'I, Daniel Blake', this 'The Old Oak' is the perfect representation of the decade in Britain and in Europe. Now, Northern England is just ruins of the proud working class mining community, which was destroyed by Thatcher's neoliberal apocalypse. The arrival of refugees is the ignition spark for the prejudice fire, as it is always easier to blame the ones in am even more precarious situation. The way those denizens, pub regulars, are portrayed is no less than perfect, as we can see perfectly the nuances of the reactions toward current changes in Europe. Dialogues are always precise. The film shows and mentions dirty pathologies of our times, like English jingoistic and anti-Islamic bigotry, the horror of ISIS, and the authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. However, it is acfually a very optimistic film. It is often sad, beautifully sad, but warmly optimistic. Solidarity and dialogue are stronger and overcome hatred and chauvinism. This is truly moving. Without ever presenting things as simpler than they are, always showing layers, in depth, Ken Loach shows us once more: we must know the problems, and we can find our way out of them. Thank you for this, thank you for all, Ken Loach!
Estômago II: O Poderoso Chef (2024)
Not brilliant as 2007 Estômago, but a nice sequel
Nice and inexpected sequel for brilliant film Estômago. Off course it is far from the astounding level of the original film from 17 years before, but it also entertains. It is more International, being a co-production Brazil-Italy: not only the food from Brazil and Italy appears "for export" (by the way, that is NOT the proper way of makeing caipirinha!), but also there are scenes in Italy and Sician mafia is highlighted. Although the script is sometimes too predictable, both the conflicts inside the famiglia and the leaders inside prision provide good moments. The film is certainly funny, but it is also quite violent, what did not happen in 2007, where the most brutal crimes were presented in a dark-humoured and not gory way. Seeing fantastic actor João Miguel bringing back his "Alecrim" Raimundo Nonato "Canivete" is also a delight, despite the character have a less central role here. The movie presents, in some way, a parallel path for him and the Italian counterpart, Dom Caroglio, also a chef. Like Nonato's in the original movie, his path towards crime leadership is unusual and involves cooking skills. Besides acting, cinematography also deserves to be praised.
Fighting with My Family (2019)
Fantastic first 20 minutes, but formulaic eversince
This British WWE movie is nice, but would have been excellent if it kept the same mood from its very beginning. The first 20 minutes are very funny and dark humoured, making me laugh loud. Lena Headey and Nick Frost were certainly essential for that promising beginning, although Florence Pugh and Jack Lowden also went well. Norwich pro (nearly amateur) wrestling and that low class remarkable family were elements which mafe my expectations increase. Unfortuntely, when WWE appears in the core of the script, the film changes a lot, to worse. It becomes more a generic self-help melodrama, with minor glimpses of initial humour. Not properly bad, but terribly generic and formulaic indeed.
The Forsaken (2001)
Entertaining flick
This is an entertaining vampire flick, whixh jas been produced as a road movie on the United States desert. It is no cinema masterpiece, off course, but it does have nice dialogues, plot, action, edition, vampire myth background, and even characters. The hunter duo and the forsaken vampire master have a good presence. The only problem, in my opinion, is that the latter has some decisions which make no sense: first of all, why to let the blond girl go and eventually seek her? Secondly, why to believe an enemy will accept to be a servant? Therefore, there are a few flaws. Anyway, it is a pretty decent vampire movie.
Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too! (2023)
Seriously amusing and lovely crossover
Lovely animated film, very amusing crossover which worked quite well. Off course, for this actually work, it had to present more the Scooby-Doo style than the DC Comics one. However, there was throughout the film a homage to several moments and characters in DC universe (including Superfriends), Krypto was a key partner for saving the day, and the final battle , which combined both Justice League and Scooby-Doo styles, was nice. There are several funny gags, and hilarious moments with the Mistery Machine crew together with Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, or Clark Kent. I seriously missed Batman (nonsense absence!), but Daphne is as good redhead Batgirl as Barbara Gordon. The "Transformers Super Sentai" were a nice addition. The hot dog seller and the valet parker provided a good contribution as additional characters. Extremely amusing and satisfying experience for a fan of both Scooby-Doo and Justice League.
The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)
Izabeth Taylor shines, but the film fades
Elizabeth Taylor is stunning and certainly steals the show, but many other actors and actresses also go well (Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, Donna Reed, Eva Gabor...). There are some smart and amusing dialogues, and interesting characters. All that considered, it is not easy to understand why the film does not flow and has a somewhat tepid (and increasingly worse, as the movie advances) outcome. Possibly it is the too soap-operesque script, becoming sluggish and lacking a stronger plot. By the way, far from the good presence in later 007 years, then just 17-year old Roger Moore was so robotic as an actor that his acting skills were even worse than Helen and Charles's marriage.
Vagas Para Moças de Fino Trato (1993)
Maria Zilda shines and the film could have been great
Based in a theatre play (the script was written by the playwright himself), this film follows the lives of two different women living together, with a dysfunctional relationship. It has ups and downs, and almost every great moment has Maria Zilda Bethlem on the screen. She shines as the extrovert and and sensuous Madalena, who works as a nurse in a madhouse during the day and parties hard with numerous sexual partners at night. Her lines talking to her roomates are hilarious, and she does look beautiful and charismatic. Norma Bengell also goes well as Gertrudes, the lonely piano teacher who has emotional dependence on the two women for whom she rents the rooms. Unfortunately, Lucélia Santos's character is annoying, unconvincing (is she naive? Is she crazy? Is she depressive? What the hell is she?), and her scenes (specially when they happen together with the embarassing character of Marcos Frota) consist in the great drawback that does not allow the outcome to be better. The the film length reached 40 or 50 minutes, there happened so nice events that I fully understood why The New York Post considered director Paulo Thiago as a promising "Brazilian Almodóvar" or this very movie. However, it was not a turning point and soon the ups and dows continued. Peréio and Gorgulho' characters are nice and add to the story. The ending is also mixed, as while Gertrudes's last scenes are excellent, the way the movie finished Maria Zilda and Lucélia Santos' characters' stories was ridiculous and even sexist. To resume, I think that this movie released two years before the "Retomada" upturn of Brazilian cinema may be considered as a late pornochanchada (Brazilian subgenre of softcore comedy, very common during the 1970s and 1980s).
Con Air (1997)
Quite bad!
Awful and ridiculously overrated, just a stupid frentic action and explosions anaesthesia. Kitsch aesthetics, bad soundtrack, unconvincing script, confusing and too chopped edition (looks like a Michael Bay flick)... There are several technical problems, but the movie is also bad for other reasons. It is a law and order propaganda developped to frighten people about criminals (including some vile policemen does not change that bias, and probably showing their williness to torture will have no negative impact on spectators who want criminals to be beaten and killed). Presenting a black activist (from an organization which name ressembles a little the black panthers) as one of the most hideous men there and a partner of serial killers, rapists and psychipaths was a particularly disgusting sin. By the way, what a waste of having John Malkovich and Steve Buscemi!
Crime Delicado (2005)
A bad puzzle of good pieces
I watched this film in the movie theater and seriously disliked it. Two decades afterwards I gave it another chance, and my opinion about it changed a little. However, I still do not think it is a good movie. It is intriguing, weird, even innovative, but not good. It is pretentious, has a disgusting exploitation element which is not justified, and seems unfinished. Ricca is an excellent actor and his character, the fierce theatre reviewer who has an empty personal life, is well developped. The bizarre relationship between the infamous painter and the model is another interesting element. Though, I do not think they all connect perfectly, but just the opposite, having a clumsy puzzle as outcome. Now, I consider the film as regular instead of bad.
Mussum: O Filmis (2023)
Lovely, mmoving, a tribute do Mussum and to Brazilian music and TV
Great biopic! It is a lovely well filmed, written, acted and edited romantic drama which both explores well the famous comedy actor and samba musician life and personality, and travels through remarkable moments and characters of Brazilian music and television. While all actors made a fantastic job, all three actors who portrayed Carlinhos Mussum (Ailton Graça, Thawan Lucas and Yuri Marçal) and his mother (Cacau Protásio and Neusa Borges) were particularly extraordinary. It was also impressive how makeup and hairdressing brought some people back to life (like Cartola, Elza Soares and Chico Anysio, the latter also with a short but impressive performance by Vanderlei Bernardino). It is possible to follow the paths, constraints, twists and successes Antonios Carlos Bernardes Gomes had in his personal, artistic and working life. The script is fabulous and the movie is visually beautiful. It is funny, moving and historically true, neither idealizing or hiding anything that was supposed to be shown. You will see there Originais do Samba, Grande Othelo, Escolinha do Professor Raimundo, Os Trapalhões, Mangueira and Flamengo. Very nice.
Final Portrait (2017)
Entering idiosyncrasies of a troubled creative mind
This is an engaging movie which, while with not much story, is very successful in exploring complex troubled mind of painter and sculptor Alberto Giacometti and his wild but also cyclical artistic process. I always knew that Geoffrey Rush was a great actor, but having the chance to see him shining in the leading role was fantastic. The rest of the casting is composed by other excellent actors and actresses, who also did a good job. Writer James Lord appears much more as a mechanism to explore Giacometti's idiosyncrasies than a character who is fully developed. There are games such as neverending painting between the artist and Lord, and the hectic game of psychological dependence between the prostitute and Giacometti. The unusual marriage also has interesting connections and routes, not following conventionally aproved behaviour and with uneasy feeling contradictions. A good film to feel and let it flow, not to see fast action and striking events. Its cinematography is as greyish and little coloured as Giacometti's art.
Batman: Death in the Family (2020)
Failed
There are many bizarre choices in this animated film. The recurrent blur in the picture, the tepid melodramatic tone of the story, the unconvincing outcome of the explosion caused by the Joker (the death was expected, off course, but it was so, let me say, clean!), the excessive narration of flashback by the Batman. The Joker himself does not have the mood I expect from the character, ressembling more a Disney witch than the clown criminal. The sudden ending, which actually does not finish anithing, is so frustrating. If putting the entire story as a testimony Bruce Wayne was an intention to innovate in the script, it just did not work.
O Livro dos Prazeres (2020)
Existentialist
In this essentially existentialist movie with little narrative plot, Marcela Lordy's direction and Simone Spoladori's performance are extremely skilled and successful in transmiting character Lóri's always uncomfortable feelings, melancholic loneliness, lack of personal connections despite frentic sexual life and the work as schoolteacher. The big appartment in front of the beach is a place for cultivating bad thoughts. The film is well made, very well filmed and edited, although sluggish in the beginning and a little hard to follow as the character herself is not the most engaging one, closed in her depressive self denial and enduring closeness to life.
Palácio de Vênus (1980)
Forget the supposed plot, it is just a sexploitation showing sexual perversion
It is clear that Oddy Fraga had the technique, was able to present an interesting cinematography, had aesthetic concerns. However, his sexploitation films were often terrible, with ridiculous story, dialogues and acting. That is precisely the case of this film. While the plot of a brothel where the pimp is concerned about her very daughter also becoming a prostitute could work, despite its sexist and moralist bias, and whereas a strike of sex workers could have produced a great story, all that depended on an inspired script, what was definitely not the case. The film is mostly an exploitation B-film on sexual perversion.
Fórmula Selvagem (2021)
Gory and messy, with undevelopped good ideas
Brazilian gory dark-rumored dystopic Death Race-like B movie with a lot of mockery on both the 1964-1985 military dictatorship and the 1980s television. There are good ideas, but it is too rough, seeming sometimes a poor cosplay of Mad Max, and the script is too messy. The very idea of a military dictatorship in a country called Panamerica, apparently built throuh an expansion of Brazil, is never developped. The reason for the race TV show is never properly explained either, and there are many confusing murders outside it. The references to military dictatorship are not only in the portrayal of censorship, the military and moral education, and the Institutional Act AI6, but also in the names of characters such as president Rademacher and the rebel João Goulart.
Io capitano (2023)
True story Europeans must watch
This is a heartbreaking story of the numerous African people who risk their lives, dealing with criminals inside or outside police force, trying to migrate illegally into Europe (and particularly into Italy through Libya, in this very movie). It is a road movie which depicts a very dangerous trip, where many lives are lost, and where greed and solidarity do both appear. There are minor fantastic elements, inside Seydou's mind, but this Italian-Belgian movie is about a quite harsh reality the world is far from solving. Indeed, there are too much people profiting with others' suffering, and that is why this horror happens daily.
Le bleu du caftan (2022)
Great delicate Moroccan movie
This is a great delicate film, co-produced by Morocco and three European countries (France, Belgium and Denmark), with hard issues and well built characters, besides extraordinary performances, particularly of Lubna Azabal in the role of Mina. She is a strong woman, who never limits herself to social conventions. Her husband is a master tailor and her business partner, who loves her but is actually gay. An assistant will enter their lives and, together with a serious illness problem, will lead to new adjustments of their existence under pressure of the challenge of the automatization of sewing everywhere else.