Reviews

The basic plot of Das Lied in mir (man/woman finds out he/she was adopted) has been done and redone a thousand times and the first half hour of the film does little to convince the viewer it is going to be any different. Most situations are predictable and the policeman subplot is hard to believe. But as the film progresses newcomer director Florian Cossen shows absolute control of the story, with subtle plot changes and charismatic characters, not to mention the spectacular photography and music. It really grows on you.

Having seen my fair share of German movies in the last years I was also pleased in finding "new" faces in the cast - also excellent in the Argentinian side.

PJ 20 is rich, smartly edited, brings incredible footage and tells interesting stories, but it should not receive 10 out of 10 for one big reason: it promises 20 years of history but only delivers 10. Obviously the first 10 were the formative years. However a lot happened during the latter decade which is barely touched by the film.

The nuance in a lot of segments is to be loved. But it is sort of tricky that the five of them never appear together in the present time interviews. It tells a lot about how this great band works and should have been further explored.

Overall though PJ 20 is a great film, specially for the initiated.

Don't take me wrong: "Rock Brasília" does deliver a nice overview of the so-called "golden era" produced by bands from Brazil's capital during the 80s and 90s. It features some great interviews (especially those with Legião Urbana's Dado Villa-Lobos and Capital Inicial's Fê Lemos) and few but invaluable footage from old shows. Nonetheless, it lacks structure and rhythm, not to mention more recent interviews (which might be explained by a lack of support). Four characters leads the narrative: the before mentioned Villa-Lobos and Lemos and Plebe Rude's Philippe Seabra plus Legião Urbana's frontman and soul Renato Russo (mostly through a single interview). It is enough for telling the overall story, but not to really contextualize much of it. Plus the director's interventions are sometimes kind of harsh and really unnecessary. Finally, for a rock documentary, though it might be said that the focus is on the phenomena itself, this film does lack more music. Most of the songs that could be mentioned as symbols of that era are played in snippets - if at all.

If you live any part of this era, you will probably enjoy the film to some extent and probably be moved by it, but I doubt that any serious listener or social observer will be completely taken by it. It does fill a still empty space. However I can't consider this anything close to a definitive portrait of Brazilian (and Brasília) rock.