Ariel (1988)

A miner loses his job when the mine at which he worked is closed. He decides to relocate to a big city. On the way he is robbed of all his money. In the big city, he gets a job, gets a girlfriend, and gets into trouble.

In one scene, we see the main character reading a comic book in jail. In another, it is his girlfriend's son who is reading one (this time the comics are recognizable as Falk's The Phantom). The mental level of all the characters, no matter their age, is thus revealed as the same, and it is only natural that the narrative style does not stray from a comic book's. There is nothing remotely challenging about Ariel. For a Brazilian local, there is a certain strangeness in the notion of social problems such as the ones depicted in this movie happening in a country such as Finland. In the end, the destination is Mexico and all I could think is that this time he better keep out of jail, because, after a stay in the Finnish penal system, he wouldn't enjoy much the Mexican one.

Rating: 40

Yentl (1983)

Second viewing; first viewing with original audio; first viewing of the extended cut; previously viewed, dubbed in Portuguese, on May 8, 2002.

Based on the short story Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy, by Isaac Bashevis Singer, first published in 1960, and on a play derived from it.

In 1904, a Jewish woman living in Estern Europe wants to study the Torah and other related texts, but Jewish law forbids women from doing it. After her father dies, she takes a man's identity and enters a yeshiva (a school for the study of traditional texts of Judaism).

I didn't find the experience of viewing this for the second time too unpleasant. It is not badly made, and, for the most part, is easy to follow and reasonably well written. The actors, too, perform well enough. The songs are solid, both in music and in lyrics. Still, I don't see what made me like the film as much as I did on my previous viewing. Its dramatic limitations are evident. What begins as a paean to intellectual curiosity shifts very quickly into one of those farces about crossdressing that have been so popular since the days of Shakespeare. Only one year before Yentl's release in theaters there was Tootsie, which has similar plot elements, but with the sexes interchanged. Unlike Tootsie, however, here one does not have the protagonist becoming a better human being through impersonating an opposite-sexed person. The point in common to all those works mentioned (and others such as Grande Sertão: Veredas, a novel by Guimarães Rosa) is the development of sexual attraction between two people one of which thinks they are of the same sex. Yentl, however, is not particularly exciting in its flow of dramatic or comic events. The ending is somewhat fraudulent, because I never knew the American branch of Judaism to be more liberal than its European counterparts. But then again, I'm no authority on the subject.

Rating: 50 (down from 68)

La sindrome di Stendhal (1996)

English title: The Stendhal Syndrome.

A police officer suffers from the titular disorder whereby an individual is prone to fainting or hallucinating under the effect of artworks. She is working on the case of a serial rapist turned serial killer and her investigation somehow gets entangled with her particular health condition.

I just couldn't find enjoyment in this. When one reads the premise, it looks full of potential, but that is misleading. Actually, that is one of the characteristics of the giallo genre: to coat a formulaic plot of policework and shocking violence with some extraneous 'arty' themes or environments. To be fair, it isn't an extremely bad movie and watching it is possible without great suffering. Let's just say that, should one make a movie out of one's filmviewing life, the experience of viewing this film will end up in the editing room floor.

Saw an English-dubbed version.

Rating: 30

The Woman (2011)

While hunting in the woods, a man spots a woman who appears to be living as a wild beast. He captures her and takes her to his cellar, where he keeps her as a captive, engaging his entire family in the process of taming her. Some unexpected events, however, lead to a crisis.

Interesting, if overly violent, familial horror drama. To be frank, all through my viewing I probably misunderstood some of the aspects of the plot and consequently the ideology of the movie. Some viewers seem to have suffered the same setback. Thus I mistook this film for a brutally feminist manifesto, but certain plot points introduce some nuances into it which put that interpretation into question. I will not enter into much detail here, as some readers might want to watch the movie with a fresh mind, and have a full enjoyment of all its surprises. Suffice it to say that a certain plot twist hints at an explanation (which of course is not a justification) for the behavior of the main male character, and that explanation involves his wife. I say 'hints' because the exact way things happened is not explicitly stated in the movie. Anyway, to sum my assessment up, this is a movie which starts out as an intelligent and intriguing drama and shifts into a shock-oriented horror movie in its latter half; that shift is not totally felicitous.

Rating: 60

Hello, Dolly! (1969)

Based on the homonymous Broadway musical (1964), which was in turn based on the play The Matchmaker (1954) by Thornton Wilder, in turn based on that same author's earlier play The Merchant of Yonkers (1938), itself partially derived from the musical play Einen Jux will er sich machen (tr. He Will Go on a Spree) (1842), by Johann Nestroy, which was, in turn, and finally, an adaptation of the play A Day Well Spent (1835), by John Oxenford.

A seed merchant from the provinces seeks a wife in the big city. Coincidentally his employees profit from his absence to look for adventures in the same city as him. In a final coincidence, his daughter elopes with her sweetheart, both taking that same destination. A matchmaker has designs on marrying said merchant; chance and her interference will bring them all together.

This is a seriously flawed musical, for reasons which have been abundantly covered in reviews. It's still a watchable movie, its main assets being a few nice songs and a stunning production design.

Rating: 40

Lenin v oktyabre (1937)

English title: Lenin in October

Lenin's life in the days preceding the October 1917 revolution in Russia. He is hunted by the authorities, who even order a hit on him. The taking of St. Petersburg by the Bolsheviks is the climax of the film.

Well-made blend of intimate portrait and historical epic. Although it is somewhat depressing to watch this kind of story while knowing how the Soviet regime turned out to be and how it ended, it is not hard to concentrate on the adventurous side of the Revolution and get entertained by it. There are three versions of this film and I have no idea which one I watched. There is one mention of Stalin that I can recall and I have not spotted him on the screen, but then I was busy reading the subtitles, so I may have missed him.

Rating: 52

Mandacaru Vermelho (1961)

A young woman who has been promised in marriage to a man elopes with another. The eloping woman is an orphan whose parents were killed in an ambush motivated by an extramarital affair which I am not sure I fully understood. Her aunt gives chase to the couple, aided by her employees.

Coming across as poorly conceived, especially in its conception of characters and their behavior, this film reportedly wasn't properly scripted, having been mostly improvised by its director. The result is far from brilliant or even entertaining, but, at least for Brazilians like me, makes for a curious viewing. The arid landscapes of Northeastern Brazil, as captured by its competent cinematography, are aesthetically pleasing enough.

Rating: 32