Regina Case Movies

The legendary Brazilian songsmith Gilberto Gil supplies the score for this reality-based comedy, in which an independent-minded woman decides that if one live-in husband doesn't fulfill her needs, she can always add more. The film begins when Darlene (Regina Case) returns to her small, dusty hometown in northern Brazil to receive her mother's blessing for her for young son Dimas. When she arrives, she finds that her mother has died; her funeral occurs the day Darlene arrives. Despondent over her new predicament, she accepts an extemporaneous marriage proposal from her neighbor Osias (Lima Duarte) and moves in with him. It becomes clear to Darlene, however, that Osias wants little more than a live-in maid. Darlene becomes pregnant and bears a child -- who bears no resemblance to the light-skinned Osias. When Osias' cousin Zezinho (Stenio Garcia) comes to town and takes an immediate liking to Darlene, she doesn't turn him away -- before long, she's bearing his son as well. As the eager-to-please Zezinho takes over her housekeeping duties, Darlene decides that the one thing she's lacking in her life is true passion, and fills that void with a sugar cane worker named Ciro (Luis Vasconcelos), who moves in as well. Eu Tu Eles was purportedly inspired by a Brazilian news story about a woman in a similar alternative-living situation; the film screened at the 2000 Cannes, Tokyo, and Toronto Film Festivals before making its stateside premiere. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Jack Noah (Richard Dreyfuss) is all actor: Self-possessed, obsessive, vulnerable, and an addict for praise, his soul burns with "the craft." Having just finished a grade-Z straight-to-cable crime thriller in the fictional South American country of Parador, he gets the ultimate acting challenge (though it's more like an offer he can't refuse) from Roberto Strausman (Raul Julia), the Paradorian dictator's chief advisor. The challenge: impersonate the country's dictator, whose just died. Strausman knows just how to manipulate Noah: He takes him to a meat locker, shows him the director's body (actually Dreyfuss' brother, Lorin), threatens to kill him, and he brings clips of Noah's best reviews. Thus enticed, and bearing a striking resemblance to the man, Noah accepts the job. Under the exacting direction of Strausman, he follows the script precisely. Noah immediately enjoys the job's perks, not least of which is the dictator's scorching mistress, Madonna (Sonia Braga), but of course cannot conceal his real identity to her. A close call with Parador's revolutionaries and Madonna's brimming social conscience push Noah to take command of the role. He starts pushing a kinder, gentler social agenda, and incurs Strausman's wrath. It begins to look like Noah will play the dictator's last act, but a chance meeting with a stunt man friend (Michael Greene) inspires a caper that will change all of the characters' fates. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., Rovi

In an avant-garde onslaught that involves literary readings from authors as diverse as Thomas Mann and Brazilian writer Guimaraes Rosa, director Caetano Veloso creates an engaging but supremely challenging look at the nature of creativity and free expression. Long commentaries also include thoughts on Wim Wenders's Paris, Texas as well as Fidel Castro and Brazilian cinema. Veloso's collage of dialogue, commentary, and selected scenic locations serves as an illustration of his own viewpoints and philosophies. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This Brazilian erotic exercise stars Sonia Braga and Paulo Cesar Pereio as lovers who aren't in love. Attracted to each other's all-stops-out sexuality, Braga and Pereio use one another in every sense of the word. It is only at fadeout time that they learn to their surprise that they have genuinely fallen for each other. Though it shies away from closeups, I Love You is about as hard-core as it's possible to get in a mainstream film. Originally titled Eu Te Amo, I Love You made its American debut sans a rating of any kind -- "X" or otherwise. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi