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filipewsan
Reviews
LavourArcaica (2001)
Best Brazilian movie ever!
I agree with most of the reviewers when they say that it's a masterpiece. Nevertheless, I also agree with some others that say that non-Portuguese speaking viewers won't be able to understand completely the extreme lyricism and romanticism (true romanticism - not cliché) of the movie. There's plenty of poetic monologues/dialogues, what brings beauty to the movie along with the rich and majestic screenplay and the exotic soundtrack.
Differently of other spectators, it didn't take much of my patience to watch it. I had a pretty delightful experience. Sometimes I though the movie was going to come to an end, but every new second of projection made me more pleasured. It kept appealing to my feelings until the last moments. When it was not the erudite dialogue, it was the landscapes or the living colours that surprised and aroused me.
Lavoura Arcaica is actually a book written by Raduan Nassar, son of lebanese immigrants which folklore are somewhat depicted in the movie. Nassar studied law and philosophy in São Paulo, what made me notice some decisive influence of contemporary philosophy in the movie. André is a heideggerian youngster while his father is a strict rationalist and traditionalist person. Well, it's better I stop now before I start spoiling the movie. You must watch it! For me, it was a joyful experience. Hope you like it too!
Casa de Areia (2005)
An allegory of life's futility
Firstly, apologize my poor English and eventual grammar mistakes. Then...
Have you ever questioned yourself what's the point of living anyway? In my interpretation that's what this movie is about: the relativity of all points of view that tries to explain life itself. In fact, in some part of the movie, Einstein's theory of relativity is commented. Do you have high expectations on life? So did the mother-in-law and mainly the wife of Vasco, who owned a piece of land in the middle of nowhere. When they arrived on that desert land, both wife (Áurea) and mother-in-law (Dona Maria) insisted that settling there was craziness. Dona Maria get used to the idea, but Áurea remained reluctant. Then, Vasco dies trying hard to build (a house) on sand. The rest of the movie, roughly, is Áurea and Dona Maria (and later Áurea and her daughter) struggle to survive as the dunes try to avoid it. Hopes are continuously buried as the movie goes on. In the end, Áurea (now an aged woman) finally gets the opportunity to visit a big city. When she returns (and that's the synthesis of the movie in my opinion), she tells her daughter how it was: after all it is all a handful of sand.