Zeze Motta Movies
Lead, onscreen from the '80s. ~ All Movie Guide- 2006
The concerned brother of a missing man sets out on a cross-continental search for his vanished sibling in director/screenwriter Zeka Laplaine's labyrinthine faux-documentary. Max has disappeared, and the only clues to his whereabouts are collection of videotapes featuring footage that the missing man had previously shot in Kinshasa and Lisbon. Kaze (Leplaine) isn't willing to let his brother go without first getting some solid answers, but his Portuguese father's nostalgic fixation on Congo and his rambling mother's obtuse distain for the European lifestyle offers little to no clue as to Max's current whereabouts. Despite the notable lack of help from his parents, Kaze is now in possession of a symbolic tribal bracelet and a red notebook once owned by his brother. When Kaze arrives in Cambodia to continue the search, all signs seem to suggest that he is hot on Max's trail and fast closing in. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ambre Laplaine, Gaspard Laplaine, (more)
Legendary Brazilian director Carlos Diegues recasts the tragic myth of Orpheus in the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. Orfeu de Conceicao is the most famous samba player in Brazil, and one of the most respected members of the neighborhood of Carioca Hill, a labyrinth of dirty streets and quickly made shacks ruthlessly controlled by drug lord Lucinho. Young Orfeu, though, lives a gilded life. He has his pick of a bevy of local beauties, children worship him, and the corrupt police will not harass him like the others in the area. During the run-up to Carnival, his world is turned upside down with the appearance of the gorgeous Euridice, who has just moved from the remote untamed hinterland of the Amazon. In spite of her indifference to samba music and her initial reluctance, the two soon fall passionately in love. Unfortunately, the violence of their surroundings threatens to overwhelm them. When Lucinho takes a liking to Euridice and challenges his former childhood friend, Orfeu is forced to endure a brutal test for his love. Orfeu was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toni Garrido, Patricia Franca, (more)
Cape Verde author Germano Almeida wrote the novel (Mr. Napumoceno's Last Will and Testament) that provides the source for this Portuguese-Brazilian-Cape Verdean-French-Belgium co-production. After a wealthy, unmarried businessman dies and the will is read, his nephew learns that he receives nothing. Instead, the estate goes to a servant's daughter. In flashbacks, the young woman then learns about her father as the story recounts his past life and loves. Francisco Manso shot this Portuguese-language film in Cape Verde. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nelson Xavier, Maria Ceica, (more)
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
- 1990
In this drama, the lives of the people who dub the voices in movies and television shows from foreign countries are explored. In this case, the foreign shows are from the U.S., and the language they are being dubbed into is Brazilian Portuguese. Marialva (Marilia Pera)is a Brazilian woman who dubs the (fictional) U.S. show, "Mary Shadow," and she is obsessed by that show, and with her desire to get to Hollyood. She will do whatever it takes to get there. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marilia Pera, Paulo José, (more)
- 1988
Three generations of women gather for one last time in the family mansion slated for the wrecking ball in this distaff drama. The trio reminisces about the last 40 years in a revealing display of emotions, sharing their hopes and dreams with each other. Filming took place in a beautiful mansion in downtown Rio. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tonia Carrero, Louise Cardoso, (more)
- 1988
This Brazilian film by director Paulo Cesar Saraceni stars Milton Gonclaves as Natal, the famous banker who contributed financial support for years to the School of Samba. Most of the plot focuses on the connection between organized crime and the samba more than on the dance itself. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milton Goncalves, Almir Guineto, (more)
- 1988
In 1981, Ronald Biggs was kidnapped by agents from Scotland Yard from his Brazilian hideout for his participation in the 1964 British train robbery. This feature was written by Biggs and director Lech Majewski as a fictionalized account of the authorities trying to bring the colorful crook to justice. Paul Freeman plays Biggs, infamous for his participation in the $5 million heist dubbed "The Great Train Robbery". Jack McFarland (Steven Berkoff) is the Scotland Yard agent obsessed with apprehending Biggs and placing him on board a British navy ship bound for England. Nudity abounds in the final carnival scene as Biggs stays one step ahead of his captors. Colorful scenes of Rio are the highlight of this feature hampered by a thin script. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Berkoff, Paul Freeman, (more)
- 1987
This highly stylized Brazilian drama contains a nonlinear storyline that effectively erases the thin line between reality and illusion as it follows the night lives of people living on the teeming streets of Sao Paulo. The story begins with a drag queen and the man he just murdered. The scene expands and reveals that he is an actor rehearsing a play. Next a man is shot while driving his convertible. This too is an illusion and as a woman screams it is seen that she is an actress in a movie. The theater director and the actress meet. Soon they get involved with a strange series of characters. All of the stories are framed by visual explorations of film, theater, TV and performance art that comment upon the seamier sides of the town's nightlife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zeze Motta, Antonio Fagundes, (more)
- 1986
This drama is an adaptation of a 1935 novel by Jorge Amado. Baldo is a black man from the wrong side of the tracks whose lifetime occupations keep changing. He works at being a servant, thief, boxer, ne'er-do-well, circus performer, and finally a strike organizer. Throughout this daunting array of activities, he carries a torch for a fair-haired beauty from the opposite side of the tracks whose own life changes from pampered to impoverished, and from impoverished to drug-ridden. She loves Baldo, but their destinies never seem to cross at the right place or the right time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Balano, Francoise Goussard, (more)
Quilombo de Palmares was a real-life democratic society, created in Brazil in the 17th century. This incredibly elaborate (and surprisingly little-known) film traces the origins of Quilombo, which began as a community of freed slaves. The colony becomes a safe harbor for other outcasts of the world, including Indians and Jews. Ganga Zumba (Toni Tornado) becomes president of Quilombo, the first freely elected leader in the Western Hemisphere. Naturally, the ruling Portuguese want to subjugate Zumba and his followers, but the Quilombians are ready for their would-be oppressors. The end of this Brave New World is not pleasant, but the followers of Zumba and his ideals take to the hills, where they honor his memory to this day. Writer/director Carlos Diegues takes every available opportunity to compare the rise and fall of Quilombo with the state of affairs in modern-day Brazil. Still, the film is refreshingly free of self-righteous oratory, and serves as an excellent introduction to anyone intrigued by the political history of South America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antonio Pompeo, Zeze Motta, (more)
- 1976
The uncommonly sexy, clever and ambitious slave Xica Da Silva won her independence and much more in mid-19th-century Brazil by using her feminine wiles and her lovemaking prowess to induce the Portuguese town governor to grant her freedom. In so doing, she became a legend and an inspiration to Brazil's large population of slaves and (eventually) ex-slaves. This film tells her story. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zeze Motta, Walmor Chagas, (more)
