BEST CINEMA FROM BRAZIL

Note: I haven't seen Estação Central with Fernanda Montenegro. So it isn't evaluated.

1. GOOD MOVIES, WORTH SEEING

• BYE BYE BRAZIL
  The best Brazilian movie of all time. Great actors and a great story. It is about a country undergoing the turbulent process change. See page on this film here.
• BLACK ORPHEUS
  Probably the most exibited Brazilian film on American TV. I have seen this 4 or 5 times. I find it crude but entertaining. Great story, beautiful music and, of course, the wonderful scenery or Rio de Janeiro. One interesting thing is that the two main actors are not the usual ones which we see over and over again.
• DONA FLOR AND HER TWO HUSBANDS
  A very amusing story about a widow and the complications of having to choose between a wild, sexy, irresponsible former husband (dead, but who returns to torment her) and a new husband older, who is older, responsible, predictable and boring beyond belief. Well, she solves the problem by keeping them both.
• VIDAS SECAS
  
• PAGADOR DE PROMESSAS
  
• O CANGACEIRO.
  Good movie. In fact, much, much better than the other movie with a similar theme, Lampião e Maria Bonita. I feel this movie captures the essence of the cangaceiro activity. Also pay attention to the Mulher Rendeira (Weaving woman) song, a very nice tune that is well known throughout Brazil. This really was a song that the cangaceiros (including Lampião) would sing when entering a village: "Olá mulher rendeira … voce me ensina a fazer render, e eu te ensino a namorar" (Hello, weaver women, you teach me to weave and I will teach you to make love)
• ANY WORK OF CARMEN MIRANDA.
  I also highly recommend the documentary Bananas is My Business, by Helena Solberg, if you can find it. Ms. Solberg has done a superb job of capturing the essence of Carmen. Find it. Buy it. rent it. Steal it, if necessary. See it.
  Well, while I am talking about the Northeast, I would like to mention the other extreme - The Gauchos in the South. A fair movie showing the meat, knife, horse and matte (tea) culture in the Rio Grande do Sul area is Ana Terra. Of course, as with Hollywood, history and authenticity takes a back seat to drama, so Guarani Indians look like Apaches. (oh well, I cringe every time I see teepees in Monument Valley, Arizona, or a Navajo wearing Sioux ceremonial headdress).

  2. REGULAR - WATCHABLE

• BEIJO NO ASFALTO
  Based upon a play by Nelson Robrigues, As you may have observed elsewhere here, I am not a fan of Rodrigues. The best thing I can say of him is he is a creep and a pervert. Anyway, I have seen some plays and movies based upon his work, and this one is the only one that is interesting. It is the story of a respectable man that witnesses an accident on the streets of Rio. Some poor guy is hit by a car (I think! Its been a long time!) and as the guy is dying the man - under some strange impulse - kisses him. The incident is seen and is reported back to family and friends. Now, in a Latin macho culture, men don't kiss men. So trouble starts…
• PAGU
• ANA TERRA

• PIXOTE
  
• QUILOMBO
  The movie is based upon the true story of black slaves who run away and built their own societies in the backlands of northern Brazil. They formed villages and for about a century were able to repulse armed expeditions sent by white slave owners to capture or kill them. This is a great story! So what did they do with it? They turned it into third class junk. They committed every crime in the book: bad actors, shabby story, poor direction, moronic dialogue, shallow characterization, and so on. They sent this movie to Cannes and the audience walked out. If you must make a bad movie, choose a ordinary theme and ruin it, do not take gold and turn it into sh*t.
• All movies by Renato Aragão.
  He and his Trapalhões TV comic group made a dozen movies for kids in the 70s and 80s.
• Barrela Escola de Crime.
  The story starts in a prison and goes downhill from there. Not fit for humans or animals.
• ALELUIA GRETCHEN
  

• All of GLAUBER ROCHA'S WORKS, without exception.
  
• MAZZAROPIs Films.