Laura Cardoso Movies
- 2008
Acácio Videira and Maria da Conceiçao were a pair of artists who were born and raised in Portugal, when they met and fell in love. In 1940, they eloped to Angola, where they were able to marry discretely and settled down to live a life together. In 1975, following a bloody war for sovereignty, Angola gained its independence, and Videira and da Conceiçao moved on, feeling as immigrants they were no longer welcome in their adopted homeland. The couple found a new home in Brazil, where in 2006 filmmaker Marilia Rocha began making a documentary about their lives together on three continents. Incorporating interviews and home movies, Rocha's film Acacio examines two remarkable lives spent together through the lens of memory and the distorted mirror of Videira's mind as advancing age and senility take a toll on his ability to understand the world around him. Acicio was an official selection at the 2009 Rotterdam International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Regina (Fernanda Montenegro) is a retired divorcée living in Rio de Janeiro. She's estranged from her only son and his family because he's invited his father to live with him. She's devoted to her dog, Betina, and occupies her spare time as a member of the police force's special senior citizen program. Regina, operating under the code name "Snow White" spends a lot of her time looking for wrongdoers to report to the police. She spends her evenings looking out her apartment window with binoculars into the windows of her neighbors across the street. One night, she watches as an older gentleman appears to give his bedridden wife a lethal injection. She reports it to the police, but they back off when they learn that the gentleman, Carmago (Raul Cortez), is a respected member of the judiciary. Alcides (Luiz Carlos Persy), Regina's police contact, gets so much political flack that he kicks Regina out of the program. But Regina takes it upon herself to continue the investigation on her own. Carmago notices that he's been seeing her around a lot, and, thinking it's a coincidence, asks Regina out on a date. She accepts for the sake of her "investigation," but before long the two find that they are really hitting it off. The Other Side of the Street was co-written and directed by Marcos Bernstein, who co-wrote the script for Central Station, the film that earned Montenegro an Academy Award nomination. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernanda Montenegro, Raul Cortez, (more)
- 2003
An elderly man living in a seaside community in Rio recalls the story of his life in this gentle comedy drama. Alberto (Marco Nanini) is a man about to turn 90, and as his birthday (and the attendant party planned by his friends and family) looms closer, Alberto finds himself looking back on the remarkable and curious events of his life. With his friends at his side, Alberto recalls the history of his village, his discovery by his adopted parents as an infant foundling, losing his virginity in a local brothel, some disastrous experiences during the war, and his long and only periodically eventful life at home. While his life with his friends and family confirm that in his own quiet way Alberto has led a charmed life, he has a rather dramatic surprise in store for the attendees at his birthday celebration. Copacabana received its North American premier at the 2003 Santa Barbara Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marco Nanini, Laura Cardoso, (more)
- 2000
Tata Amaral directs this Oedipal tragedy about a mother who is obsessed with her son. Retired nurse Selma (Laura Cardoso) lives a merry life with her son Raimundo (Fransergio Araujo), whom she lavishes with attention and food. Yet her life soon starts to fray when he gets a girlfriend a starts hanging out with a shady crowd of ne'er-do-wells. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Cardoso
This beautifully photographed black and white Brazilian mystery chronicles the union between Paco, an aspiring actor living in Sao Paulo, and Brazil-born Alex, who works as a waitress in Lisbon, Portugal. Much of the tale is set in 1990 when Brazilian president Fernando Collor de Mello threw his country into an economic tailspin by suddenly confiscating the savings accounts of the entire population. At this time, Paco is living with his elderly mother in a poor Sao Paulo neighborhood. Tired of living in squalor, the mother dreams of returning to her native Spain. When she learns that her savings have been seized, the shocked old woman drops dead. Now without his mother, Paco feels little desire to stay in Brazil and so meets with the sleazy Igor, an antique dealer, and agrees to smuggle a violin stuffed with raw diamonds to Lisbon. Paco is to take the fiddle to a certain hotel where he will be paid by the contact. Unfortunately, he arrives, but the contact doesn't. This incident leads him down a twisted road filled with murder, danger and intrigue that eventually ends in the arms of Alex. In many films, this would be the end of the story, but not for Alex and Paco, for they cannot relax and enjoy their relationship unless they can somehow escape the murderous thugs Igor sent to kill them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernanda Torres, Fernando Alves Pinto, (more)
