Mauricio Goncalves Movies
- 2002
Brazilian brothers Renato and Geraldo Santos Pereira direct the period biopic Aleijadinho: Passion, Glory, and Torment. The film is a portrait of the 18th century artist Antonio Francisco Lisboa as played by Mauricio Goncalves. Also known as Aleijadinho, the sculptor, architect, and martyr was originally born the son of a slave. The artist's life is told in flashbacks through a professor's investigation conducted years after his death. Aleijadinho's daughter-in-law (Ruth de Souza) tells stories about his life and career, revealing his struggles with mental illness and disease which ultimately caused his physical disabilities. Even with the disadvantage to his extremities and the trauma involving his wife, Aleijadinho continued to work. Aleijadinho: Passion, Glory, and Torment was screened in the U.S. at the 2002 African Diaspora Film Festival in New York. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mauricio Goncalves, Maria Ceica, (more)
- 2001
This fanciful fantasy from Brazil (which was adapted from a play that previously inspired a top-rated Brazilian TV series) follows two poor but resourceful young men, Jack the Cricket (Matheus Nachtergaele) and Chico (Selton Mello), on their adventures. Looking for work, Jack and Chico get a job at a bakery, where the mean-spirited owner feeds them food so awful that when they give it to a dog, it kills the poor animal, leading the boys to fast-talk a priest into giving the dog a funeral mass. Later on down the road, shy Chico falls in love with beautiful Rosinha, whose father is the town's wealthiest citizen. While Chico is too timid to approach her, Jack is able to fool Rosinha's boyfriends into leaving town, leaving the field open for his friend. And finally, a gang of ruthless criminals invades the town and goes on a murder spree, with Jack gunned down alongside many of the town's most prominent citizens. As Chico buries his friend, Jack matches wits in the next world with the Devil (Luis Melo), persuading the Virgin Mary (Fernanda Montenegro) to put in a good word for himself and his friends to Jesus. O Auto Da Compadecida proved to be a box-office sensation in Brazil, where it has become the nation's top-grossing homegrown feature. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matheus Nachtergaele, Selton Mello, (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
