I loved the idea of different directors seeing the same subject. The result is very irregular, but not in quality. Each piece individually is great, but you almost don't see a connection between them.
Reviews
13 Reviews
Cortina de Fumaça
(2011)
lucid debate
27 March 2021
I have read criticism about this movie, saying it's not impartial, because it criticizes prohibiton and War on Drugs model, and the promise was to promote a debate. One side of the question is already extensively given, so this documentary shows only the other side. Psychiatrists, social scientists, specialists in public health and security, policiticians, all come to share new ideas on how to deal with drug use, abuse and social questions related to it. It discusses the problem of drug traffic and violence, related to the problem of poverty and favelas in Brazil, where the movie was produced. Mainly in Rio.
Interesting take on the question (and, surprise, I personally don't do drugs).
Interesting take on the question (and, surprise, I personally don't do drugs).
Denying Brazil
(2007)
Great work
22 March 2021
Joel Zito de Araújo has made a survey around Brazilian culture interlaced with History and social issues, showing the collective shame and scars of slavery and racism, while paying a beautiful tribute to some of the greatest Brazilian actors.
Zorba the Greek
(1964)
Depressing
21 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I can't believe it is recommended as having an optimistic message!
Maybe it's part of the myth about happy and beautiful poor countries that offer some "magical experience" to foreigners who then go back to their rich countries, not caring because they have felt good and that's what matters... Maybe Zorba is that fictional "good savage" who doesn't matter except for making the "civilized man" feel good about himself.
Zorba is a just a sweet talker who gets his master into trouble but is also very loyal and servile.
Women also don't matter.... Two widows, both used and discarded. One of them is humilliated and killed because of one night with a man. This man doesn't stand up for her and can't show even a drop of compassion or guilt after watching everything and doing nothing. Both widows/lovers of the two guys die, two scenes of human cruelty and violent herd behavior. Do they care? Both man only care about each other and other men. They quickly resume business, including other men who killed one woman and looted the other's house while she was dying. Business between men is the only thing that counts.
Then, everything goes wrong and they dance...
Toc Toc
(2017)
funny but respectful
18 March 2021
It's a comedy about a difficult subject, but always treated respectfully. All the time, it shows OCD as painful, but how prople behind it also are rational, intelligent and have feelings. I understood it as making fun of problems, not of people who have the problems. I loved the way the story makes you like the characters without limiting them to a diagnose.
Black Orpheus
(1959)
Brazilian Stereotypes
1 March 2021
Clearly a foreign vision about Brazil... A lot of stereotypes about colorfulness, dance, musicality, being oversexual and happy to be poor.
Tiring long scenes of people dancing that don't add to the narrative, with the usual close ups to women's breasts and hips. Like the director had never seen breasts before.
The screenplay, adapted from a play by poet and composer Vinícius de Morais, has the interesting idea of freely recreating the myth in another cultural context. Acting is bad, but the main actors are beautiful, as the colorful scenes. The music is also beautiful, by Tom Jobim and Luís Bonfá.
Paths of Glory
(1957)
More than a war movie
5 December 2020
I wouldn't have watched a war movie if it weren't by Kubrick, who's always anti-war, and always great, whatever the subject.
It's not just an anti-war movie, but also a big drama about humanity. Besides all the power games, vanities, inequality between top officers and soldiers who die, it's about human beings and how we choose to react in extreme situations.
I am not aware of technicalities, as most of us viewers aren't. But who can't recognize a narrative that's skillfully built with acting, images, soundtrack, etc with such perfection?
Last Year at Marienbad
(1961)
Pretentious and pointless
25 November 2020
Maybe I was misled by many descriptions aroumd the web, that suggested there was a mystery to be solved. But the movie just doesn't have a plotline, only an amount of pretentious scenes.
I liked that it created an interesting sense of vague disturbance, the photography is beautiful, but in the end it is all so pointless I felt like losing my time. And I am not into blockbuster movies...
I know this movie has been considered inspiring by many great directors, and is historically important: this is just another review...
Story of a Love Affair
(1950)
The postman rings once again
18 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I admire Antonioni's work, but his first got me frustrated. Maybe it's dated, maybe we've seen too much of femme fatale leading man to kill her husband. Lucia Bosé is gorgeous, but plays a tiring spoiled beauté who's not sure if she loves someone she can't have or money. Maybe it was something new at that time, but for me it was too cliché (and I usually love old movies). The characters didn't seem consistent, or how the story develops. I felt like losing my time, but maybe it's just me, other reviews are praising...
for fans
3 October 2020
Always interesting if you are really into the band. It's the usual editing of testimonials and live scenes. Getting to see a musician you admire reviving some old stories, talking about his music. Band documentaries are almost always the same, and we love them!
After Life
(1998)
Poetic and makes you think
19 September 2020
It really depends on your taste for movies. Slow and subtile as most Japanese movies. Afterlife and its metaphysics are not the central point, but human experience. The point seemed to be how each person has a different life and also a different way of seeing it, while living it and in a moment of reckoning. The movie draws attention to little or big things that are valuable to each individual, how there's suffering and joy. Beautifully build, including images, the movie tells about fascinating human diversity, and seems cause everybody to look into their own life.
A Useful Life
(2010)
Short, light and delicate movie
13 June 2020
Beautiful and delicate. The plain routine of a plain man, the only highlight being his job at a movie club. Everyone who loves movie clubs and has sweet memories around them is touched. Like when a director says that was the place where he watched movies that changed him. I guess every movie fan has that place. It seems a simple narrative, but also a celebration of cinema as an art. And at the same time, the spectator bonds to this plain man with an heroic task of taking movies to people.
When the movie club shuts down, the character of that plain man develops beautifully. A person so intimately linked to movies could not be that plain...
Short, entertaining and poetic, it left a smile on my face.
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