Nineteen-year-old André operates a photocopy machine at a stationery store in Porto Alegre, hence the title of the film. With his minimal salary, he would be what we might call a member of the "working poor." He does not live in a favela nor does he lead a life of grinding poverty. Instead, he shares a modest and clean apartment with his mother in what looks like a working-class neighborhood.
This alone made the film interesting to me, since so many Brazilian movies are about favelas, drugs, gang violence, extreme poverty, and/or political corruption. The exceptions to these themes often focus on the lives of the upper middle class or the very wealthy, so with this film, we get a glimpse of the lives of those who are neither extremely poor, nor extremely rich.
During his free time, André draws, mostly cartoons, which are used as animations throughout the film to reinforce the plot, and to illustrate André's view of what's going on around him. André also uses a pair of binoculars to view his neighbors from his bedroom window. Now, this sort of thing would normally seem creepy, but in André's case, it's no more disturbing than watching Jimmy Stewart use his binoculars in the classic Hitchcock film "Rear Window," or more recently, Shaia LaBeouf in "Disturbia."
The primary object of André's long-distance viewing is Sílvia (Leandra Leal), a girl his age who lives in a nearby building. He manages to follow her one day and is able to find out that she works at a woman's clothing store, and he even works up the nerve to go in and ask to look at a bathrobe for his mother. He chats somewhat awkwardly with Silvia, and then goes on his way.
Meanwhile, back at the stationery store, we meet André's co-worker Miranês (Luana Piovani), a beautiful and confident young woman. Among other things, she informs André that she has to lie down in order to put on her very tight pants, and that she only dates wealthy men. When André asks if she wants to go to the opening of a new bar, she agrees, but makes it clear that she is bringing her own date. At the bar, André meets the man in question, Cardoso, played with great comedic talent by Pedro Cardoso. On the surface, Cardoso is cocky and confident, but within a minute or two, everyone, including André, can see that it's a lot of talk (and in Cardoso's case, there is a *lot* of talk: he spends his first moments on screen explaining that he dislikes the metal tables in the bar, giving a detailed description of how one time, a glass of whisky slid right off a metal table).
So we now have the four main characters of what is essentially an ensemble film, and their similarities and contrasts make for a dynamic that is never boring and often very funny.
André sees Sílvia on the bus, and they talk long enough for him to commit to returning to the shop to buy the robe for his mother. The problem is that the robe costs R$ 38, and he has no money.
The solution presents itself when his boss gives him a R$ 50 bill and asks that he pay a bill for him. André agrees, and asks to stay in the store after work, in order to learn how to operate the new color copier that has just been installed. It takes him 5 hours to make a reasonable forgery of the bill, but he manages to do it.
The next day, he buys a lottery ticket with the forged bill, and with the change he receives, is able to buy the robe.
This marks the end of the first half of the film, which is almost an exposition that lays the groundwork for the second half. Some critics have described the rest of the film as a jarring and even unacceptable turn of events, but I strongly disagree. I can't go into details without spoiling the story, so you'll have to watch the film yourself to find out why there is some controversy, but I can say that the film does change from what seems like an innocent, almost naive story, to one in which a certain amount of criminal activity occurs.
No, it does not turn into a blood-soaked story of rampant violence, but it gets darker. However, the characters remain appealing throughout, and the film itself remains essentially a romantic comedy. Some critics complain that the film seems to be saying that money is the only way to find happiness, but I also reject that statement. As I read some of the critical reviews, it struck me that they were written by people who have certain expectations for what a film, especially a foreign film, should be. If you accept the movie on its own terms and don't look for deeper hidden meanings, it's thoroughly enjoyable and a lot of fun. It is worth watching just to see the incredible range of facial expressions that Ramos uses as he is involved in increasingly complex events.
I watched this film twice after receiving it from Netflix, and will watch it again before I return it. It is officially on my list of top 5 Brazilian films.
It includes a feature on the making of the movie, which is better than many I have seen. Subtitles are legible and seem fairly accurate, but they have a sort of fuzzy look, as if you can see pixelated edges to the letters. No big deal, but is it that much more expensive to do quality, higher-definition subtitles?
Language note: be prepared to hear the widespread use of "tu" with the third person singular verb form. From what I have read online, this is not uncommon in Porto Alegre.
Highly recommended.
Availability:
- DVD for sale at Amazon (note: the cover art on Amazon is for another film)
- DVD rental from Netflix
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