Leonardo Medeiros Movies

A Sao Paolo forensic pathologist who fights boredom by dreaming up causes of death for those who have yet to pass away is called on to examine a most atypical corpse in this mystery from co-directors/co-screenwriters Rossana Foglia and Rubens Rewald. Artur is good at his job, but quick to lapse into daydreams. Asked to examine the inexplicably preserved corpse of a woman buried in a mass grave of protestors that had vanished during the military dictatorship of the 1970s, Artur is intrigued that the body is in much the same shape as it must have been thirty years ago. At first Artur suspects that the corpse is the mother of a young woman named Fernanda, but then he discovers that Fernanda's mother is still very much alive. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Money may be the root of all evil, but that doesn't stop people from taking notice when it begins falling from the sky in this satiric comedy from Brazil. In Fim de Linha (aka End of the Line), a handful of seemingly unrelated stories share the common element of the uneven distribution of wealth. Journalist Artur (Leonardo Medeiros) is making a documentary about the life and career of Charles Ponzi, the con artist who invented the Ponzi Scheme. Artur's wife Renata (Gisella Reiman) works for Congressman Alves (Rubens de Falco), a politician who claims his great wealth comes from wining the lottery over 1,300 times. A baby goes missing and discovers that cash makes for a tasty snack. A tribe of Indians who have been helping farmers by performing their ceremonial rain dances decide they want to be paid for their work. Two taxi drivers who keep picking up the wrong fares are revealed to be part of an unusual office pool. A homeless man strikes it rich when he finds a bag of money. A handful of senior citizens demand something be done about the power failures that are cutting into their television viewing time. A man who can't hear or speak takes on a life of crime. And Carlos (Eucir Souza), the congressman's son, discovers a cache of his dad's ill-gotten gains and announces to the world that he's returning the money to the people in the simplest way possible -- by tossing it out the window of a skyscraper. End Of The Line was an official selection at the 2008 Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

One young man's forbidden love threatens to destroy his life and tear his family apart in this epic-length period drama from Brazil. In the early '40s, teenaged Andre (Selton Mello) is being raised in a strict and deeply religious home, where his father (Raul Cortez) is known to grill his children about his spiritual failings over the dinner table. However, Andre is being torn apart inside by his uncontrollable lust for his sister Ana (Simone Spoladore); a beautiful young woman, Ana unknowingly excited her brother's desires while dancing uninhibitedly at a community gathering, and now he's wracked with longing for her. Unable to remain at home with Ana, Andre runs away to live with his secret shame, only to be brought back into the family fold by his older brother, Pedro (Leonardo Medeiros). Andre confesses his unnatural desire to Pedro, but he finds that confession does little to ease his passion, and while Ana remains unaware of her brother's feelings for her, she is also being consumed with desires she cannot freely express until she once again performs a lust-addled dance at neighborhood festival. Adapted from a novel by Raduan Nassar, Lavoura Arcaica was written, directed, and edited by Luiz Fernando Carvalho; it was his first theatrical feature after a celebrated career in Brazilian television. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi