Nelson Dantas Movies
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
- 1986
This semi-autobiographical comedy-drama is the second of a trilogy by director David Neves who takes a look at life on the wild (or at least casual) side in Rio de Janeiro. Bruno (Claudio Marzo) hangs out with a group of free-wheeling dilettantes with two guiding passions in life: doing nothing whenever possible, and sex. A porno filmmaker (Roberto Bonfim) focuses on the latter avocation, while Herminio (Flavio Sao Thiago) focuses on the former. While pursuing both of these passions, Bruno begins an affair with a widow in her 30s and everything seems to be going well -- until he sees her teen-age daughter (nicknamed Fulaninha by his buddies) and it's love at first sight. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mariana de Moraes, Claudio Marzo, (more)
- 1984
This political thriller is set against the background of actual turmoil in Brazil in the 1970s, so viewers familiar with that time and place in history will get the most out of O Bom Burgues. Lucas (José Wilker) is a banker with clandestine leftist sympathies who is embezzling money from the bank to support the Communist Party, and also privately supporting a more radical group of guerrillas/terrorists that even the Party is against. Lucas' sister is a member of that paramilitary unit, and when they capture the Swiss ambassador and ask for certain concessions from the government, the action leads to serious trouble for Lucas. Not to mention the fact that his mistress is also the lover of a well-known ultra-conservative - complicating matters several times over. Those unfamiliar with Brazilian history will still enjoy the excitement in this film - even if confused now and again. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jose Wilker, Betty Faria, (more)
This attempt to remake the clever 1977 French farce Un Moment d'Egarement stars 50-film-a-year man Michael Caine as an executive named Matthew Hollis, who, together with friend Victor Lyons (Joseph Bologna), travels to Rio de Janeiro on business. Victor sets out on the town in search of a lambada partner, leaving Matthew to fend for himself against his friend's over-sexed teenage daughter (Michelle Johnson), who's come along for the ride. Soon, Matthew succumbs to her advances, despite his efforts to break off the affair, and finds himself a repeated statutory rapist, at least by American legal standards. The script plays out like an extended version of Three's Company, with lots of near-misses and dumb-dumb humor; critics aptly noticed Caine's apparent discomfort throughout the film. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Joseph Bologna, (more)
- 1983
This boisterous Brazilian comedy is set in Dona Esperanzas lively bar and revolves around the tempestuous love between a bitchy soap opera diva and her husband, a writer for her show and an author of pulp romances. The trouble begins because the actress has become too involved with her role and this is not helped by the show's fans who constantly assault her. The other patrons of the bar lead equally soapy lives. When they all hear that the bar is about to be replaced by a shopping mall, they are devastated. Things really get nutty when a troupe of circus performers suddenly shows up. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugo Carvana, Anselmo Vasconcelos, (more)
- 1980
Focusing on the culture and beliefs of the people in the state of Minas Geraes in Brazil, this highly innovative drama by director Carlos Alberto Prates-Correia continuously blurs the line between fantasy and reality. At center stage is a man and his life, viewed from the perspective of his dreams, visions of the past, interpretations of the present, and a "real" world somewhere in-between. Cultural and social vignettes from life in Minas Geraes are interspersed throughout the film; the avant-garde approach of Prates-Correia contorts some of these vignettes into enigmas. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nelson Dantas, Tamara Taxman, (more)
- 1972
Revolutionaries in 16th-century Brazil come in for close study in this 1972 Brazilian/Italian film. A group of intellectuals, with the exception of a Corporal Tiradentes, these revolutionaries plotted the overthrow of the Portuguese colonial government. In a compelling scene, an informer slips into the governor's bathtub to tell him of the group's plans. The entire group was rounded up and put in prison where, Inquisition-like, they were tortured until they recanted. Only Tiradentes refused, and was killed. One of the film's ironic moments is a shot of modern Brazil officially celebrating the dedication of this lone patriot. It is ironic, because the country was under the control of an undemocratic, strict military government at the time. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
This Brazilian romantic drama is told in two episodes, each based on a separate story by Rubem Fonseca. In the first episode, Lucia, a young girl, is wild about contemporary music and poetry books. The music she loves best is from The Beatles, which is why she calls herself McCartney. Her need for ever more records and books proves beyond her means, and she decides to earn what she needs in a brothel. In the second episode, a young man wants to try to pay what it will take to release a young woman from her job in a bordello. The girl, of course, is Lucia. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
The down-at-the-heels aristocrats in this Brazilian film can barely keep their moral compasses on an even keel at the best of times. When one of the women of the family throws herself wholeheartedly into a life of passion and eroticism, they haven't a clue what to do. As they begin to find ways to attack her, her defenses are strengthened by a new alliance with a wily and resourceful transvestite. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
