Lucy Barreto Movies
Three generations of women struggle to make lives for themselves and their families in the desert wastes of Northern Brazil in a drama from filmmaker Andrucha Waddington. In 1910, Vasco de Sá (Ruy Guerra) leads his wife, Áurea (Fernanda Torres), and her mother, Dona Maria (Fernanda Montenegro), to their new home -- a ramshackle cabin in Maranhão, a tiny village in the middle of a barren sand dune. Vasco and Áurea's new neighbors are hardly welcoming of the new arrivals, especially Massu (Seu Jorge), and when Vasco unexpectedly dies, Áurea and Dona Maria are left to fend for themselves, an especially vexing challenge as Áurea is with child. Nine years later, Áurea and Dona Maria have turned their cottage into a home, but life in Maranhão remains a constant uphill battle, and Áurea dreams of moving away with her daughter, Maria (Camilla Facundes). Áurea becomes infatuated with Luiz (Enrique Diaz), who works with a group of astronomers who have come to Maranhão to observe an eclipse, but their romance comes to a crashing halt when Dona Maria is killed. By 1942, Maria (now played by Fernanda Torres) is a promiscuous alcoholic who brings shame to Áurea (now played by Fernanda Montenegro). After the body of an Air Force pilot is found near Maranhão, a military officer is sent to investigate -- Luiz (now played by Stenio Garcia). When Luiz meets Maria, he sees the image of the woman he longed for years before, and while she doesn't have the same feelings for him, Maria realizes that Luiz represents her best hope of finally escaping the village she's come to hate. The House of Sand received its North American premiere at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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)
- 2000
- R
Recalling late period films from Francois Truffaut and American 1930s screwball comedies, Bruno Barreto directs this elegant romantic comedy set in Brazil. Mary Ann Simpson (Amy Irving) is a middle-aged American widow teaching English in Rio de Janeiro. Since her pilot husband died two years previously, Mary Ann has more or less dispensed with any ideas of a second chance at love. When one of her nubile young students mentions that she found her perfect match, Mary Ann insists that one can only meet Mr. Right in the flesh. Later, she shares an elevator with suave attorney Pedro Paulo (Antonio Fagundes), who is in the throes of a painful transition after his wife Tania (Debora Bloch) dumped him for a tai chi instructor. Pedro is struck by Mary Ann immediately, and he decides to sign up for one of her classes even though he is thoroughly fluent in English. Meanwhile, soccer ace Acacio (Alexandre Borges) is struggling through Mary Ann's language classes in order to play for a U.K. team. The good-looking athlete flirts with his teacher for a while, complicating things for Pedro Paulo, before becoming infatuated with Pedro's sexy law clerk. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amy Irving, Antonio Fagundes, (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
- 1995
This Brazilian story is set in 1910 in a southern rural community populated by Italian immigrants. There average-looking but hard-working Angelo, a peasant, marries free-spirited and lovely Teresa. After the wedding he goes into business with the handsome Massimo. Massimo's wife is the plain but good-hearted Pierina. Their grain business grows into a major success and as they begin raising families, Massimo and Teresa find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. They end up having an affair and abandoning their less beautiful spouses. Fortunately, the two abandoned spouses discover that they too have fallen in love. The whole sinful situation becomes a thorn in the disapproving parish priest's side, and he threatens to destroy their business. But the business continues flourishing and soon both couples begin bearing more children. Happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- R
This Brazilian feature lifts a few elements from the old, oft-filmed erotic chestnut The Woman and the Puppet. Fausta (Betty Faria) is fed up by her shabby treatment at the hands of her boorish husband. She seeks out more rewarding male companionship, finding it in the form of a wealthy but lonely old man. Rather than express gratitude, Fausta (evidently getting even for her husband's nastiness) treats her elderly benefactor as rudely as possible. Rather than express disappointment, the old fellow seems turned on by this treatment; the worse she behaves, the more he does to make her happy! Directed by Bruno Barreto of Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands fame, Story of Fausta was completed in 1988, but not generally released until 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Faria, Daniel Filho, (more)
- 1985
Released in Brazil as Alem Da Paixao, Happily Ever After is all about ostensibly happy housewife Regina Duarte. She has a dream one night in which she dances with a woman who "morphs" into a gorgeous hunk of man. While musing on this dream, Duarte hits a handsome young pedestrian with her car. Guess who that pedestrian looks like? Their affair gets off to a bad start when he robs her, but she trails him to a transvestite club. Enchanted by her dream come true, Duarte refuses to acknowledge the fact that her new bisexual lover is a male prostitute, stealing everything she owns to support his drug habit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Regina Duarte, Paul Castelli, (more)
- 1984
The horror of life in a Brazilian prison from an inmate's view is chronicled in this drama based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Gracilano Ramos. The tale takes place in the 1930s when Brazil was run by dictator Getulio Vargas. It begins as the Marxist oriented protagonist is arrested with no explanation. Once imprisoned, the authorities allow him to write--provided he can find pen and paper. In the end, his writing has such impact on the public that authorities release him. Had they not, he would have died from their brutal cruelty. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Bye Bye Brazil, the gifted director Carlos Diegues' follow-up to his 1978 Xica da Silva, became one of the most popular and fiscally successful imports of late '70s and early '80s South American cinema. Bye Bye is a muted and low-key ensemble drama about a shabby circus crawling from small town to small town through the Brazilian backwaters. As the curtain rises before us, the circus claims three participants: the slightly scary, medicine-show-like leader, Lorde Cigano (Jose Wilker), who sports a carnival-like 19th century mustache and cape, and keeps the audience mesmerized with magic tricks; the erotically charged, raven-haired dancer Salome (Betty Faria), "Queen of the Rumba"; and the deaf-mute strongman Swallow, who doubles as a fire breather. The troupe quickly adds yet another member shortly after the story begins: the strapping young accordion player Cico (Fabio Junior). He signs on with the circus when he catches sight of Salome, and is thus lost to his expectant wife, Dasdo (Zaira Zambelli) forever -- despite his obligation to cart the missus along with the troupe. The preponderance of the drama explores the shifting relationships between the circus members over the course of their journeys; it also reveals how endangered the troupe has become, both by the inability of locals to pay (the performers accept melons and other edible goods as recompense) and by competing entertainments such as television. These endangerments will ultimately force Cigano and co. beyond desperation -- to the point of ending the circus altogether and prostituting out Salome and Dasdo, just to turn a buck. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jose Wilker, Betty Faria, (more)
