Breno Moroni Movies
- 1993
- Add Manoushe: The Legend of Gypsy Love to QueueAdd Manoushe: The Legend of Gypsy Love to top of Queue
Brazilian directors with artistic pretensions frequently create films rife with surrealist, religious imagery. Sometimes the result is appealing, other times not. In this case, most reviewers found the mix of a barely articulated (and cute) fairy-tale story and overtly sexual imagery heavy sledding. The story begins at the funeral of a gypsy man (Breno Moroni), whose wife (Drica Moraes) recalls the magical times of their courtship and early marriage in a forest full of sprites and magical creatures. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Breno Moroni, Drica Moraes, (more)
- 1990
- PG13
Ben Kingsley headlines this thoughtful adventure that was filmed on location in Brazil. The story centers on Cunda, a poor hunter who makes his meager living killing snakes. One day, he runs across four chimpanzees. The hunter is elated, for he hopes that selling them in the Big City will net him enough money to pay the dowry of his beloved Maria, a widow who lives in his village. His journey is long and arduous. At one point he ends up forced to work in a remote mining camp; at another he gets captured by military slavers. He and a beautiful Indian girl manage to escape from the latter and with the chimps make it to the city. But things don't go well there. More adventures ensue, and with each one, Cunda ponders humankind's true place in the natural world. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Kingsley, Mika Lins, (more)
- 1990
In this odd example of cinematic navel-gazing, the sermons of Father Antonio Vieira (1608-1697), an important contributor to Portuguese literature, serve as the basis for an exploration of avant-garde filmmaker Julio Bressane's understanding of what a filmmaking narrative is. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Othon Bastos
- 1989
Carla Camuratti stars as the revolutionary female intellectual Pagu in this film biography directed by Norma Bengell. When she meets writer Oswald de Andrade (Antonio Fagundes), leader of the Modernist movement, Pagu joins the social elite of Brazil who advocate the values of the bourgeois while living in luxurious splendor. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carla Camurati, Nina de Padua, (more)
- 1988
In 1981, Ronald Biggs was kidnapped by agents from Scotland Yard from his Brazilian hideout for his participation in the 1964 British train robbery. This feature was written by Biggs and director Lech Majewski as a fictionalized account of the authorities trying to bring the colorful crook to justice. Paul Freeman plays Biggs, infamous for his participation in the $5 million heist dubbed "The Great Train Robbery". Jack McFarland (Steven Berkoff) is the Scotland Yard agent obsessed with apprehending Biggs and placing him on board a British navy ship bound for England. Nudity abounds in the final carnival scene as Biggs stays one step ahead of his captors. Colorful scenes of Rio are the highlight of this feature hampered by a thin script. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Berkoff, Paul Freeman, (more)
- 1986
Malandro is a Brazilian musical set in the Rio of the 1940s. Likeable prostitute Fabio Sabag is fired from her nightclub job. Fabio's pimp Edson Celulari vows vengeance upon the girl's odious ex-boss. Celulari sets about to seduce the club owner's daughter Claudia Ohana, but she proves to be no pushover. The play on which this film is based was very obviously influenced by the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, especially The Threepenny Opera and Happy Days. Malandro was released in Brazil as Opera do Malandro. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edson Celulari, Claudia Ohana, (more)
- 1985
- R
Based on the 19th-century novel by Machado de Assis, this experimental film combines at least two realities at once -- the literary and the cinematic. In this case, characters from the novel are mixed on different levels with director Julio Bressane's own experience to produce an amusing, substantive commentary on Rio de Janeiro and its society. The end product also says a lot about the nature of filmmaking and will be especially enjoyed by aficionados of that art. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luz Fernando Guimaraes, Bia Nunes, (more)
