Brazil

This is the story of father and son who work as clowns Puro Sangue/Valdemar (Paulo Jose) and Pangare/Benjamin (Selton Mello) in a circus which travels through the Brazilian country side. Benjamin is a clown who does not have id or social security number. Going through a phase where he starts questioning his ability to make people laugh and his future, Benjamin decides to follow a different path to find his answers and pursue his dreams: a fixed address and the ideal woman. In the adventure, he meets several people on the way to find his own identity. (~IMDb)Read More »

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A Brazilian masterpiece, fascinating, powerful and still contemporary, waiting to be (re)discovered by the world, 12 October 2006

The first thing you’ll remark when you see “Os Cafajestes” today (if you are lucky enough to find a copy of it) is how surprisingly modern, daring and mesmerizing it still is. The existential drama of 4 characters — two men (low-life scum Jandir, small-time playboy Vavá) and two women (used up Leda, provocative Vilma), who indulge in dangerous, deceitful games that include sex, photos, cars, beaches, drugs and blackmail — is amazingly contemporary in its visual style, boldness and acid criticism of amorality and egotism. That, combined with the virtuoso camera-work by Tony Rabatoni, the blazing summer whiteness of Cabo Frio beaches and dunes, the surprising turns in the plot, the edgy dialog and the non-linear treatment of sound vs image make this an unforgettable film, one of the most impressive directing debuts in the history of cinema (that’s not an overstatement), regrettably little known outside Brazil.Read More »

If you like early John Waters pieces, you have to see this one. In fact, this movie was released a year earlier than Pink Flamingos. The director was also writer, art director and set decorator, in the traditon of underground cinema – the movie is considered part of the movement called Cinema Marginal and was banned by the military Brazilian authorities. –mandragoruRead More »

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The history of Brazilian popular music in the 20th Century, focusing specially on the life and works of intriguing singer Mário Reis, a loner who, with his special way of singing – whispering and softly saying the words – in a time when singers with potent voices ruled, was in a way a forerunner of Bossa Nova style.Read More »