Cláudia Abreu Movies
- 2008
Brazilian filmmaker Walter Lima Jr. looks back on the turmoil of the 1960's as well as the glories of the bossa nova boom in this musical period drama. Dico (Selton Mello) is a filmmaker who obsessively chronicles the career of his close friends in the group Os Desafinados, a bossa nova band who are on the verge of popular success at home and are earning a following among jazz fans abroad. Os Desafinados are the brainchild of composers Joaquim (Rodrigo Santoro) and Davi (Angelo Paes Leme), who with the help of their rhythm section Paolo Cesar (Andre Moraes) and Geraldo (Jair de Oliveira) are taking dance music into fresh and exiting directions. Their sound impresses Leon (David Herman), an American record producer who offers to bring the group to the United States and help them reach a new and wider audience. Joaquim and Davi eagerly accept the offer, and are jetted to New York City where they play a riotously well-received gig at jazz mecca the Village Vanguard. However, they soon discover Leon is more interested on how he can profit from the success of Os Desafinados than in the welfare of the group, and when Joaquim and Davi meet Gloria (Claudia Abreu), a gifted Brazilian vocalist who has relocated to Manhattan, the two become rivals for her romantic and musical attentions, an especially problematic situation for Joaquim since he's already married to Luiza (Alessandra Negrini). The band's career troubles and internal squabbles suddenly seem trivial, however, when Os Desafinados learn that Brazil's political future is up in the air following a violent military coup. Os Desafinados (aka Out Of Tune) received its North American premiere at the 2008 Guadalajara Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rodrigo Santoro, Cláudia Abreu, (more)
A cinematic study of the bleak realities of modern day Brazil, O Homen do Ano (aka Man of the Year) follows the brooding Máiquel (Murilo Benicio) as he discovers that the smallest changes in life can make the biggest differences. Jobless and insecure to the point where he can't even face himself in the mirror, a terrified Máiquel enters a salon to have his hair died platinum blond after losing a soccer bet to a friend. His new look supplying an unexpected jolt of confidence, Máiquel asks Cledir (Claudia Abreu), the salon employee who died his hair, to join him at the bar in celebration. Taunted by local bully Suel upon arrival at the bar, Máiquel decides to settle the matter by purchasing a rifle and shooting down the loudmouthed Suel in the presence of Suel's young girlfriend (Natalia Lage). Unexpectedly hailed as a hero by his neighbors and the police, Suel's girlfriend subsequently approaches Máiquel and claims that since he killed Suel, it is now Miquel's responsibility to care for her. Simultaneously learning that Cledir is pregnant and anticipating a marriage proposal, Miquel's newfound reputation soon catches up to him as the dubious requests of influential locals begin to take their toll on him. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Murilo Benicio, Cláudia Abreu, (more)
A father desperate to improve his family's circumstances takes them on an unusual journey in this drama from Brazil. Romão (Wagner Moura) is a truck driver who has fallen on hard times; illiterate and unable to find work at a living wage, Romão and his wife, Rose (Cláudia Abreu), decide to leave the Northwestern provinces of Brazil and head east for Rio de Janeiro, which is 2,000 miles away. With no vehicle at their disposal, Romão, Rose, and their five children make the journey on bicycles. Along the way, they face physical and emotional hardship and bear witness to the many ways in which the nation they knew is changing. Romão also finds himself coming to a crossroads with his oldest son, Antônio (Ravi Ramos Lacerda), a teenager who has become openly defiant of his parents. O Caminho das Nuvens (aka The Middle of the World) was the first dramatic feature from documentary filmmaker Vincente Amorim. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wagner Moura, Cláudia Abreu, (more)
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
Based on a popular Brazilian novel by Jorge Amado, this lively drama slyly comments upon Brazilian society while telling a tale of reconciliation and subtle revenge had at the hands of the fast-living titular character, a woman who 26 years before was banished from her remote home village of Sant'Ana do Agreste for promiscuity. Cloaked in mystery, she returns home from Sao Paulo. The residents who welcome her know that she is recently widowed from a wealthy man and that she has been sending money to the family, but they know nothing else. The still fantastic looking Tieta is accompanied by her step-daughter Leonora. Still jealous, Tieta's wallflower sister Perptua, who is also a widow, secretly conspires with their father to learn the truth about the scandalous Tieta who is busy stirring up erotic trouble amongst the town's most pious hypocrites. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
