Nights Of Iemanjá - 1971 - Brazil

Nights Of Iemanjá - 1971 - 5/10
AKA - Noites de Iemanjá

 
She snubs her husband, who seems unable to satisfy her needs.
Instead, she prowls the docks, the wharves, open beaches.
Seeking younger, fitter men.  Whom she seduces and drains.
Not the vampire, succubus, femme fatale trope, but closer to a destroying siren.
The pace is languid and the female’s impulses are vague.
Even to herself.
Copy I viewed seemed from a nth generation VHS.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/download/3365673

Love From Mother Only (Amor Só de Mãe) - 2003 - Brazil

Love From Mother Only - 2003 - 6/10  
AKA - Amor Só de Mãe

 
Fihlo’s mother is pious and in poor health.  Not dead, though.
Which is what his girlfriend, prostitute Formosa, urges him to hasten.
Oh yeah, she is also a devil worshiper.
By and by, Satan digs his claws into both, with gruesome results.
Festering Brazilian horror reeks of sweat, semen and blood.
Nudity and positions coaxing the hapless fool.
Warned, you be.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3356786

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul - 1964 - Brazil

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul - 1964 - 5/10
AKA - À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma

 
Zé, village undertaker (who dresses like a carnival magician) knows how to mesmerize others.
So that he can injure, main, or murder them.  He is, after all, superior.
Despite having a wife / girlfriend, Zé fancies friend Antonio’s fiancée, Terezinha.
Girlfriend disposed of, Antonio disposed of, Zé forces himself into Terezinha.
Throughout, the village witch warns him.  As if he cares.
Melodramatic, cheap, hammy.
So bad to be most enjoyable.

Pixote -1980 - Brazil

Pixote -1980 - 7/10
AKA - Pixote: a Lei do Mais Fraco

 
Uneducated, unwashed, uneducated.  The abandoned, disposed children of Rio de Janeiro.
Ten year old Pixote is already a petty criminal, message runner for gangs, glue sniffer.
A hellish stint in prison reinforces violent tendencies, erodes humanity.
An unflinching look at the underbelly, the disease that is incarceration, and corrupt law.
Pixote is sympathetic, in many ways funny, even here and there, an innocent.
Until he’s not.
Beautifully ugly film, wrenching at times, otherwise prescient of what is coming.

Aquarius - 2016 - Brazil

Aquarius - 2016 - 5/10

 
Sônia Braga plays Clara, last tenant at the Aquarius, an old two story apartment in Recife, Brazil.
Her neighbors sold off to a property developer who intends to demolish and erect a high rise.
Clara won't budge, however.  Mind you, the Aquarius sits on the beach!
Conflict escalates between the 65 year old woman and the developer and his tactics.
Ostensibly a character study, I found Clara unsympathetic and inconsiderate.
Flaws don't mean she is in the wrong, though.
While I do not understand Brazilian property laws, I have tilted against developers a time or two.
Film itself is overlong, with many scenes extending three or four beats past their limit.
Blame the writer-director for self indulgence and leaving pointless sequences in the final cut.

Invisible City: S01 - 2021 - Brazil

Invisible City:  S01 - 2021 - 6/10
AKA - Cidade Invisível

First the mysterious death of his wife, followed by a body washing up on shore.
A body that seems human, but might also be a dolphin.
Eric, detective for the Environmental Police, investigates a small tavern and delves into a subculture of entities.
Episodes are steeped in Brazilian folklore, characters are differentiated, the pace percolates.

 
At the core, as so often. lies money.  In this case, land, owned by the poor.  Coveted by developers.
Seven episodes, roughly 35” each, meaning this could have been a fuller, richer experience.
The conclusion of S01, slightly unresolved, should satisfy commitment avoiders.
A second season is underway, though I suspect I won’t watch.

Bacurau - 2019 - Brazil

Bacurau - 2019 - 7/10

Following the death of her 94 year old  grandmother, Theresa returns to her village of Bacurau.
She arrives riding in the water truck, since authorities have dammed the river upstream.
First indication there is something amiss.
For reasons unexplained, someone or something is trying to squeeze the villagers.
We observe residents, their struggles, romances, endurance.
A half hour in, from out of nowhere, one of the villagers, riding home, is followed by a small UFO.

 
Right off, I get tremendously excited.  UFO, middle of oblivion, this must be the Zanti misfits!
Well, that was not to be, but several scenes later Udo Kier appears and the plot accelerates.
Slow boil actioner will reward the patient.

Dead Nature - 2018 - Brazil

Dead Nature - 2018 - 6/10
AKA - Natureza Morta

 
It’s almost embarrassing, the way females throw themselves at him.
Then again, Tim is a high end fashion photographer.
Too bad those gorgeous specimens don’t know he is a murderous sociopath.
Blame a troubled childhood, deep in the swamps, tangled like rusty barbed wire.
Tim’s camera eye, captures again and again, the juxtaposition of beauty amidst death and decay.
Secondary story follows Pitbull, a scruffy detective with a pitbull’s IQ.
The look of this Brazilian series is flat and cheap, like a telenovela.

The Second Mother - 2015 - Brazil

The Second Mother - 2015 - 6/10
AKA - Que Horas Ela Volta?

 
Val works for affluent family as nanny, housemaid, cook, laundress, do-it-all.
She has a roof over her head, is paid, is a member of the family - more or less - and exploited.
The estranged daughter Val had to abandon years earlier, to send money back to, invites herself to stay for a period.
The girl, studying for college entrance exams, is an unsettling, confident force.
Film delves into several conflicts:  generational, class, merit.
Hardly a subtle film, viewers may feel their sympathies frayed by every character.

Omniscient: S01 - 2020 - Brazil

Omniscient: S01 - 2020 - 6/10
AKA - Onisciente

Tech series set in near future Rio de Janeiro.
Society has surrendered privacy for security, as fly-sized drones follow citizens everywhere.
Yes, that means bathroom, that means bouncing the sheets.
Nina is a programmer candidate for Onisciente, the massive surveillance firm.
Her father is murdered; his drone saw nothing. Actually, because of privacy laws, no footage is available.
His death is ruled an accident. Afterward, Nina starts digging, hacking into the system.
Much is given over to Nina outsmarting or gaming her ever-present drones.
The tech may be too shaky for engineers, but for those who suspend a lot of disbelief this should be OK.
To my amazement, S01 did resolve and tie up questions, while opening floodgates for S02.
Same creative team made 3%.
I watched S01 of that show, never bothered with later seasons.

3%: S01 - 2016 - Brazil

3% - 2016 - 6/10

Unwashed masses teem and struggle “Inland,” while “Offshore” is an undreamed utopia.
The concept of meritocracy, often espoused, is here carried out.
Via “the Process” each coming-of-age bracket are put through mental, physical, psychological tests.
Only 3% pass, and they are allowed to journey to Offshore.
Elysium … or Soylent Green?
Slow going 8-part parable from Brazil (in Portuguese, so find subs, if necessary).
Backstories of unlikable characters unfold.
E04 was “Lord Of The Flies” excitement, yet E05 ground to a standstill.
Near future look is heavy on dystopia, light on SciFi.
Budget and script-writing limitations apparent.
Doors left open for a second season.