Marieta Severo Movies

Brazilian filmmakers Joao Jardim and Walter Carvalho ponder the old adage "the eyes are the windows to the soul" as they explore vision and perception in their 2002 documentary A Janela Da Alma (Window of the Soul). Beginning with an interview with Brazilian jazz musician Hermeto Pascoal, Carvalho and Jardim attempt to make sense of how the musician perceives his world with a pair of impaired eyes that appear to simultaneously look in different directions. From there, the Brazilian co-directors interview a number of famous subjects with varying degrees of ocular health, ranging from the non-vision impaired director Wim Wenders to blind photographer Evgen Bavcar, while both the filmmakers and the interview subjects ponder how their lives and existences would be different had their abilities or inabilities to see the world around them been different. Released in Brazil in the summer of 2002 to mixed reviews, A Janela Da Alma was screened at a number of film festivals around the world in late 2002 into early 2003. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

The life and career of the renowned Brazilian composer Hector Villa-Lobos is portrayed in this biographical drama, which begins with the legendary musician looking back at his own life in his declining years, then leaps back and forth in time to show the highlights of his story. Villa-Lobos (Marcos Palmeira) first developed a passionate interest in music as a child, and took up the cello at the urging of his father (Othon Bastos). As a young man, Villa-Lobos (now played by Antonio Fagundes) becomes acquainted with a saxophone player named Donizetti (Jose Walker), who invites the young prodigy to join him on a journey through the Brazilian rain forests. Villa-Lobos is seized by indigenous tribespeople, and as he stays with them in the wilds he becomes fascinated with the musical structures of bird songs. In time, Hector begins writing his own music, which leans heavily on "natural" influences, but his young wife Luc'ilia (Ana Beatriz Nogueira) feels his work is too challenging, both for performers and listeners. Villa-Lobos eventually finds an appreciative ear for his work in virtuoso pianist Arthur Rubinstein (Emilio de Mello), who helps to support the composer as he travels to Paris to write and perform. In time, Villa-Lobos leaves Luc'ilia, though she actively contests their divorce, and the personal life of the aging composer (now played by Andre Ricardo) provides him with a number of trials and challenges as his work finally wins him an enthusiastic audience in his native land. Villa-Lobos: Uma Vida De Paixao received its North American premiere at the 2000 American Film Institute Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this black comedy, Xavier owns a pharmacy and does well enough at it to support two households comfortably, which is exactly what he does. In fact, he is a bigamist. Not content with two wives, he even has a mistress, a cabaret singer. His male friends and neighbors are privy to his situation, and he is widely envied. That is, until his wives find out about each other -- which goes surprisingly well, all things considered. He nearly weathers that crisis when the two women find out about his mistress. This so outrages them that they get together and kill him. It's not the sex that bothers one of them, but the possibility that the mistress may have violated the sanctity of her intimate relations with her man by cooking for him. Though the murder doesn't go unnoticed by the police, the investigator in the case has another agenda entirely. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

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, Rovi

Every country no doubt has its golden youths who die before they have had a chance to come to full flower and who leave a romantic legend behind them. In the U.S., one of these was James Dean. In Brazil, the fans of the actress Leila Diniz were similarly bereft when she died in the late 1960s. This biographical drama, directed and written by one of her close friends, and produced by a relative, tells the story of a very modern woman who broke new social ground in the conservative society of Brazil. Many of the people involved with the unconventional actress in real life play themselves in this film. The mood of the times are evoked: it was an era when a repressive military dictatorship governed the country, but the ideas and styles of beat poetry and aspirations for social change were fermenting among the young. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A better-than-average Brazilian docudrama, this look at 20 years in the life of the notorious Tenorio Cavalcanti (Jose Wilker) leans heavily on the contributions of his family. Cavalcanti was a gunslinger in the tradition of an American Western. He was elected to Congress, where he showed up wearing a long black coat, a matching beard, and toting a machine gun. He is reputed to have killed many an opponent and built himself a veritable fortress for protection against his enemies -- which would eventually include the Brazilian army. He defended the rights of the people of the Duque de Caxias region with a vengeance. This drama takes particular note of his activities between 1945, when he joined a major political party, and 1964, when a military coup ousted the elected president. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

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, Rovi