Teresa Roby Movies

A bleak drama about street children abandoned by the Portuguese juvenile system, Os Mutantes/The Mutants was immediately controversial in Portugal, where it inspired nationwide debate over reform of the nation's youth authorities. Os Mutantes examines the lives of Pedro, Ricardo and Andreia, three kids in their early teens who have rejected life in juvenile homes or with foster families to take their chances on their own. They drift into petty crime and are exploited by sexual predators; the two boys end up working in a pornographic film, while Andreia becomes pregnant. When Andreia turns to her mother for help, the mother turns her away, telling her she can barely support herself, let alone a new baby. Os Mutantes was filmed with a largely non-professional cast; director Teresa Villaverde had originally planned to make a documentary about homeless children, but when government authorities refused to cooperate, she used her research as the basis for this screenplay, giving many of the children she met in her travels roles in the film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A beautiful bride-to-be decides to see if her groom really does love her for her personality in this Portuguese drama. She tests his love on the day of their civil wedding by shearing off her beautiful dark waist length hair. Rita's ploy eventually backfires because although Paulo is not pleased, he marries her anyway. Still her rashness has created a widening gulf between them. Paulo resents having one of his sex toys taken away from him and one night gets his revenge by cutting her hair even shorter while she is sleeping. Their relationship continues downhill from there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This unique Portuguese film chronicles an eight hour period in Lisbon. It is part of a trilogy, Lisbon, 24 Hours that the city commissioned to celebrate its year as a European Capital of culture. This episode covering the hours 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. begins with a suicide and ends with a birth. Each of the vignettes are loosely involved with the others and cover a broad range of subjects including; two drunks returning home after a long boozy night; a man with murder on his mind, an English speaking couple making up; a fallen film star demonstrating a kiss; a ballet dancer's painful realization that she cannot dance. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In a unique approach to what amounts to four pseudo-morality plays, director Monique Rutler has a street entertainer with hand puppets summarize the characters and idea of each story, and then the vignette unfolds for the next 25 minutes or so. The first sketch is about a young man who shines shoes for a living, and tries to keep up a relationship with two women while convincing each she is his only true love. The next story is about a man who beats up his wife when he is drunk, and sells furs for a living. One day, as she is riding in the back of his truck with the furs, he hits a bad patch and she and some furs fall out. The question is, will the woman be enterprising and leave the jerk - or not? The third tale concerns a woman looking into how much control a prostitute has over her clients, and to really find out, she becomes a prostitute herself for awhile - leading to some quite unexpected situations. The last segment handles the uglier side of the life styles of the rich and famous. Although the four vignettes are well-presented, some viewers may disagree with the premise of a few of the stories. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide