Pedro Cardoso Movies
- 2003
In this tale of love and larceny from Brazil, Lisbela (Debora Falabella) is a young woman engaged to marry her well-meaning but thick-headed boyfriend, Douglas (Bruno Garcia); however, Lisbela is beginning to have second thoughts about marriage when she meets Leleu (Selton Mello), a grifter with a traveling carnival that has set up in town. Lisbela finds herself pondering the notion of leaving Douglas behind and taking up with Leleu, but while he's obviously interested in her, Leleu has problems of his own with Inaura (Virginia Cavendish), a hot-tempered woman who has been having an affair with Leleu when she can get away from her husband Frederico (Marco Nanini), who is aware of his wife's infidelity but lacks the courage to do anything about it. Lisbela e o Prisioneiro received its North American premier as part of the 2004 Los Angeles Latino Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Brazilian filmmaker Jorge Furtado makes his directorial debut with the romantic comedy Homen Que Copiava (The Man Who Copied). Andre (Lazaro Ramos) is a young man who likes to draw, but the only job he can get is making copies at a bookstore. His co-worker Marinez (Luana Piovani) tells him that she will only sleep with wealthy men, despite the fact that she's dating a poor salesman (Pedro Cardoso). Andre develops a crush on his neighbor Silvia (Leandra Leal), a young woman who works in a clothing store. In order to impress her, he comes up with a counterfeit scam using his only technological resource. Homen Que Copiava was shown at the 2003 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lazaro Ramos, Leandra Leal, (more)
- 2000
- R
Recalling late period films from Francois Truffaut and American 1930s screwball comedies, Bruno Barreto directs this elegant romantic comedy set in Brazil. Mary Ann Simpson (Amy Irving) is a middle-aged American widow teaching English in Rio de Janeiro. Since her pilot husband died two years previously, Mary Ann has more or less dispensed with any ideas of a second chance at love. When one of her nubile young students mentions that she found her perfect match, Mary Ann insists that one can only meet Mr. Right in the flesh. Later, she shares an elevator with suave attorney Pedro Paulo (Antonio Fagundes), who is in the throes of a painful transition after his wife Tania (Debora Bloch) dumped him for a tai chi instructor. Pedro is struck by Mary Ann immediately, and he decides to sign up for one of her classes even though he is thoroughly fluent in English. Meanwhile, soccer ace Acacio (Alexandre Borges) is struggling through Mary Ann's language classes in order to play for a U.K. team. The good-looking athlete flirts with his teacher for a while, complicating things for Pedro Paulo, before becoming infatuated with Pedro's sexy law clerk. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amy Irving, Antonio Fagundes, (more)
Bruno Barreto returned to his native Brazil after a ten-year absence to direct this fact-based political thriller that was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Pedro Cardoso stars as Rio de Janeiro journalist Fernando Gabeira, who decides with his friend Cesar (Selton Mello) to take up arms with a radical leftist organization, MR-8, in 1969. The revolutionaries, who include the tough-talking and beautiful Maria (Fernanda Torres), are fighting to overthrow Brazil's brutal military government through civil unrest and guerilla tactics. Their first action, the robbery of a bank, is successful, although one group member is captured and tortured by Henrique (Marco Ricca), a secret service agent plagued by his conscience. As a follow-up to the heist, the MR-8 members kidnap the U.S. ambassador to Brazil, Charles Burke Elbrick (Alan Arkin). During four days of captivity, however, the kidnappers discover that their prisoner is a good-hearted man of conscience, causing Fernando to become increasingly uneasy about the group's plan to kill Elbrick if a demand for the release of political prisoners goes unheeded. O Que E Isso, Companheiro? (1997) was based on Gabeira's book of the same name but was released in the U.S. under the title Four Days in September. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Arkin
- 1984
This vampire story by Brazilian director Ivan Cardoso is interspersed with humor and nuanced with a 1950s look. A group of young women are performing in a nightclub act called "The Seven Vampires" at a respectable and (apparently) prosperous hotel. While they are play-acting in the beginning, their roles take on another aura after a "killer vegetable" changes a scientist into a vampire. His affinity for the chorus girls threatens to make their vampire personas all the more realistic. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alvamar Tadei, Andrea Beltrao, (more)
