Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures
Two outcasts wander the back roads of Brazil looking for different kinds of escape in this drama. Johann (Peter Ketnath) fled Germany to avoid being drafted during World War II, and has ended up in Brazil, where he makes his living as a traveling showman and salesman. Johann spends his days driving his truck through the Brazilian outback, and when he discovers a suitably populated... (read more) village, he sets up his portable projection system and shows advertising films promoting the latest wonder drug -- aspirin. Johann does good business at his stops, but spending most of his time behind the wheel gets tiresome, and he often picks up hitchhikers to break up the monotony. One day, Johann picks up Ranulpho (João Miguel), a native who strikes up a friendship with the expatriate German and offers to join him as a projectionist and assistant. While Johann welcomes both the help and the company, the two soon become aware of their different temperaments -- Johann has grown to love Brazil, while Ranulpho longs to get away -- and Johann finds he can no longer escape the war in the wilds of Brazil, as the nation has an economic alliance with the Allied forces and immigration authorities insist he either return to Germany or give himself up to military police in São Paulo. Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (aka Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus) was the first feature film from writer and director Marcelo Gomes. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Cast:
- Director(s):
- Marcelo Gomes
- Writer(s):
- Marcelo Gomes, Karim Aïnouz, Paulo Caldas
- Producer(s):
- Maria Ionescu, Joao Vieira, Jr., Sara Silveira