The Brazilian Cinema I

We’re a small group talking about the difficulty finding good Brazilian movies in Montreal. "La Boite Noire" is the best place for renting movies here, but they don't have a good Brazilian repertory. So, the guys asked me to talk about some of them that I saw and liked. Well, I will not talk about City of God, Central Station, Carandiru, Pixote since they are well-known. Those which are in "La Boite Noire" and which I didn't like, I will not even quote them. Here starts my list:

Lavoura Arcaica - Awards
The Left of the Father
2001 - Family Drama
Director: Luís Fernando Carvalho
A subversive re-working of the parable of the prodigal son, as experienced by a family of Lebanese immigrants to the interior of Brazil, at the turn of the last century. André is the son who errs is lost and then found. And whose return and incestuous yearnings, threaten to destabilize a family already divided along Biblical lines - between those who sit to the right and those who sit ‘to the left of the father’. Adapted from a novel by Raduan Nassar, Lavoura Arcaica was written, directed, and edited by Luiz Fernando Carvalho; it was his first theatrical feature after a celebrated career in Brazilian television.

• Paris Cinema: Avant-Premières• Libération: Un "Père" pas vraiment pépère• Cahiers du Cinema: Les pieds dans le terre• Premiére: Si vous aimez la transe et la transgression• CinéLive: A la droite du fils• Le Figaro: Pasolini des tropiques

The Dog's will - Awards
O Auto da Compadecida
1999 - Fiction
Director: Alexandre Stockler and Guel Arraes
Describes the comic adventures of João Grilo and Chicó. They are the leading thread that intertwines three stories. Shot in north-eastern Brazil, where the story is played, the plot is treated so that it establishes a parallel between that Brazilian region in the 1930’s and Europe in the Middle Ages.

The Man Who Copied - Awards
O Homem que Copiava
2004 - Comedy
Director: Jorge Furtado
André lives in a small city in southern Brazil, and works as a photocopier operator. He is quietly in love with Silvia, who works selling clothes. Becoming attracted to her, he tries to get nearer, and goes to her shop to buy something, but finds out that he can't afford it. So he puts the photocopier to other uses, and begins to envisage fishy schemes to earn some money.


The Storytellers - Awards
Narradores de Javé
Fiction - 2002
Director: Eliane Caffé
Javé Village may disappear, flooded by the waters of a huge hydroelectric power plant. They decides to defend its existence using a rather uncommon strategy: since the majority of the population is good at storytelling, but is mostly illiterate, there is a need to find a suitable clerk to perform the task to write the village’s history.

K.S.
WINGS – WRITING, FLYING AND HUEVOS REVUELTOS
http://montrealswinds.blogspot.com/