Soninha Toda Pura (1971)

*spoilers*

A middle-aged woman is staying at her private island with her young male lover. Along for the trip are the woman's daughter and the latter's best friend.

Sexual drama. Not much to see here. The protagonist is a virgin who is seduced by her lesbian friend and in the end gets raped by her mother's lover. The girls do lots of gigling and running around on the beach, then rehearse Romeo & Juliet, do some kissing, and that's it. Mother and lover do extensive making out indoors while the girls are outside on the beach or upstairs locked in the bedroom. The dialogue is just what one would expect from this kind of set-up: cynical with the man-woman couple, juvenile with the girls. To see this in a restored copy eases the dullness somewhat.

Rating: 33

Paris nous appartient (1961)

English title: Paris Belongs to Us

A young student of literature is dragged into a group of intellectuals in Paris and investigates a supposed conspiracy which allegedly is killing its members one by one and has the potential to destroy the entire world.

The life of a student may be extremely tedious, and the allure of the theater world, especially when combined with intrigue and mystery, may provide an irresistible distraction. That is what happens with this film's protagonist. The events she seems to navigate have the same structure as the ones in a schizophrenic's mind, but we are never given a hint of a possible mental health issue. The cold war context in which those events are situated are a fertile ground for conspiracy. The external menace, in the person of a businessman who seems intent on destroying the leftist threat in the artistic milieu, is compounded by the internal threat, in the person of two disruptive Americans, an apparently paranoiac writer and his ex-girlfriend who specializes in seducing and abandoning people. For the protagonist, she is also a love rival. I could write more about this film, but watching it would be probably the only way to absorb all its layers and nuances. An intelligent film about political activism, big cities, and despair.

Rating: 68

Port of New York (1949)

 Second viewing; previously viewed on January 18, 1989

(*spoilers*) An agent from the Narcotics Bureau and another from the Customs Police join efforts to catch the head of a drug smuggling gang. Some legal shipment of narcotics disappears from a ship. A woman who had been a passenger on that ship and was an accomplice to the smugglers wants out. The police stakes out a locker in a railway station and finds the buyer. It's a nightclub comic. The two agents raid the bandits' storehouse one night, and one of them gets killed. The other one impersonates a drug buyer to get to the head of the gang.

Violent criminal documentary-style drama. Mildly entertaining.

Rating: 47 (unchanged)

The Mauritanian (2021)

 True story of a man who was dragged from a social gathering in his native Africa, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 New York incidents, and spent fourteen years in the Guantánamo prison. He was released thanks to the efforts of a lawyer who believed in human rights and the rule of law.

This is not really an excellent movie, but I can't say why exactly. I guess this story had many angles from which it could be told, and the one we see isn't the most exciting one. Be it as it may, it is an interesting and well acted movie about injustice and how one individual coped with it.

Rating: 58

Phantom (1922)

 A guy is run over by a carriage and the woman riding in it comes to assist him. He becomes obsessed with that woman, who belongs to a higher social class than his. He finds a substitute in a lookalike from a lower social class. To provide for his lover's expensive cravings, our hero takes a loan from his moneylending aunt. When the latter finds out how he is spending the money, she demands it back or else.

Romantic drama with expressionistic touches. There are some dull passages but overall it's interesting and visually striking.

Note: the version I watched was approximately 120 minutes long.

Rating: 57

Uma Mulher para Sábado (1970)

*spoilers*

Nando and Loco are long-time friends. Loco is a visual artist coming from a rich family; Nando gave up his artistic career and now works as a sales rep. Nando has a girlfriend but does not want a commitment. He meets Dorianne at a party and feels attracted to her. Loco sets up a week-end at his beach house with Nando and two women, one of whom happens to be Dorianne. Nando sleeps with Dorianne; Loco has no such luck with the other woman. After they return, Nando does not want to pursue a relationship with Dorianne. Loco decides to give in to his father's pressures and take a position at his company. He asks Dorianne in marriage. Nando goes back with his girlfriend.

This is a mostly badly directed film. It also has some very ludicrous dialogue, spoken in a strangely awkward manner (I wonder whether the actors were dubbed by other persons). In spite of that, the basic plot line shows some promise and we at least can imagine the better film this could have been.

Rating: 34

Zabriskie Point (1970)

Second viewing; previously viewed on September 20, 1987

An ex-student (Mark) on the run from the police for alleged involvement in the death of a policeman during a student riot steals a small plane and meets a young student (Daria) in the middle of the desert where they make love and talk.

This is curious as a record of an era and its sillinesses, which, come to think of it, are still our era's sillinesses, with a few changes. It starts very interestingly with an excellent sequence in a classroom where students debate their "movement"; then there are some riots and they go to jail; after that it shifts its focus to the two main characters, and it becomes a little dull.

Rating: 50 (down from 68)

Lua de Mel & Amendoim (1971)

 This film is comprised of two segments: (1) Lua de Mel & Amendoim. A womanizing middle-age man wants to have sex with his fiancée but she refuses to do it before they get married. He finally gives in, but has problems in the honeymoon. (2) Berenice. A young womanizer meets a woman who will not have sex with him as she does not approve of his lifestyle. He eventually falls in love with her.

A pair of thematically-related films, mildly comical in tone. The first one is set in São Paulo, and the second in Rio de Janeiro. They may be viewed today as a testimony on the morals of another era. The first episode depicts conservative values in their orthodox form; the second depicts a more liberal way of life, which nevertheless does not diverge a lot from the old ways: the independent woman is not keen on enjoying casual sex because that would not be emotionally satisfying and would not free her from being a sex object. Despite those interesting considerations, the film is poorly made, and not entertaining.

Rating: 26

Metropolis (1927)

Second viewing, probably; previously viewed between 1983 and 1986.

First viewing of the restored version lasting approximately 2h25. 

 In a future time, the city of Metropolis goes through some turbulence in connection to a mass movement centered on a prophetess and her promise of a "mediator" who would reconcile workers and capitalists. A capitalist's son feels attracted to the prophetess and claims the role of mediator for himself.

This is a lot longer than the version or versions I saw previously, so I jumped at the opportunity of seeing it. The most interesting thing about the movie is its political ideology of humane conservatism, which I suppose is something akin to social democracy, though a somewhat malicious reviewer could also make the case for a prefiguration of National Socialism, with the mediator as a kind of Hitler prototype. Admittedly the plot is not as exciting as its premise, particularly in its middle section. There is a strong religious component to the script, with the Maria-following exhibiting messianic characteristics (she embodies a conflation of the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist and Mary Magdalen), and its flipside personified by the apocalyptic preacher (he seems to be only a hallucination of the protagonist, and for some reason which escaped me is conflated with the Thin Man, a spy for the capitalist; it seems this is better explained in footage that was not recovered). The set designs and visuals in general are stunning, as is well known.

Rating: 67 (unchanged)