Film Movement
NEW YORK -- A road movie whose primary momentum is provided only by the ever-moving bicycles its characters ride, Vicente Amorim's picturesque debut feature is long on scenic atmosphere and short on dramatics. It depicts a grueling, 2,000-mile journey through Brazil, from the poverty-stricken state of Paraiba to the glamorous environs of Rio de Janeiro, undertaken by a family of five. Consisting of unemployed truck driver Romao (Wagner Moura), his steadfast wife Rose (Claudia Abreu) and their three children, the family is making the journey at Romao's behest, as he believes that this will be the only way he can find a job lucrative enough to support them. "The Middle of the World", recently shown at the New Directors/New Films Festival, is currently playing exclusive theatrical engagements in New York and Los Angeles.
While the plot setup would seem to hold the promise of an engrossing road movie, David Franca Mendes' screenplay unfortunately comes up short when it comes to characterization and plotting. The main drama revolves around the character of Antonio Ravi Ramos Lacerda), the couple's rebellious teenage son, whose introduction into sex and encounters with various unsavory types provide mildly diverting anecdotes.
Otherwise, the film is mainly content to depict the strength of the family's bond and to provide an admittedly evocative portrait of contemporary life in the impoverished regions of Brazil. In the depiction of this unlikely journey -- it is supposedly based on a real-life story -- the film awkwardly veers between naturalism and a striving for poetic myth. But it does provide the sort of travelogue that even the most hardy of travelers would be unlikely to experience in real life.
NEW YORK -- A road movie whose primary momentum is provided only by the ever-moving bicycles its characters ride, Vicente Amorim's picturesque debut feature is long on scenic atmosphere and short on dramatics. It depicts a grueling, 2,000-mile journey through Brazil, from the poverty-stricken state of Paraiba to the glamorous environs of Rio de Janeiro, undertaken by a family of five. Consisting of unemployed truck driver Romao (Wagner Moura), his steadfast wife Rose (Claudia Abreu) and their three children, the family is making the journey at Romao's behest, as he believes that this will be the only way he can find a job lucrative enough to support them. "The Middle of the World", recently shown at the New Directors/New Films Festival, is currently playing exclusive theatrical engagements in New York and Los Angeles.
While the plot setup would seem to hold the promise of an engrossing road movie, David Franca Mendes' screenplay unfortunately comes up short when it comes to characterization and plotting. The main drama revolves around the character of Antonio Ravi Ramos Lacerda), the couple's rebellious teenage son, whose introduction into sex and encounters with various unsavory types provide mildly diverting anecdotes.
Otherwise, the film is mainly content to depict the strength of the family's bond and to provide an admittedly evocative portrait of contemporary life in the impoverished regions of Brazil. In the depiction of this unlikely journey -- it is supposedly based on a real-life story -- the film awkwardly veers between naturalism and a striving for poetic myth. But it does provide the sort of travelogue that even the most hardy of travelers would be unlikely to experience in real life.
A worthy but somewhat less-than-satisfying follow-up to the Oscar-nominated "Central Station", Brazilian director Walter Salles and producer Arthur Cohn's "Behind the Sun" is a somber tale of a blood feud depicted as an endless cycle of ritual violence. Distributor Miramax can count on Salles' name to lure dedicated cineastes for limited engagements, but "Sun" is probably not destined for boxoffice or awards vindication.
Inspired by Ismail Kadare's novel "Broken April", set in Albania, Salles and co-writers Sergio Machado and Karim Ainouz have fashioned a widescreen period drama that holds one's attention but comes up short as a cinematic experience that will resonate strongly with all viewers.
Transporting Kadare's original to the Inhamuns Badlands in northern Brazil's Ceara state, "Sun" plays like a lengthy short story or a short novella stretched to feature length. There are a handful of characters and few plot points that entail long scenes. As with his previous film, Salles tells much of the story with minimal dialogue and proves again to be a very talented visual artist.
What's missing in the film is the one character who can command the same attention as the film's technical virtues, while the horrid atmosphere of dread that hangs over the film is predictably destined to be broken. One comes away from the film in perhaps a gloomier mood than was intended, however, because there is nobody to enthusiastically root for. It's more a case of just hoping one or two folk survive the carnage.
The Breves family was once a proud supplier of sugar in the desert-y nowhere they call home, but the decline began with the abolition of slavery, and now the reigning patriarch (Jose Dumont) is forced to drive the oxen himself at the old mill where the sugar is processed. A very hard man who proudly remembers his many brothers and uncles who died defending the family's honor, this nameless father has a 20-year-old son, Tonho (Rodrigo Santoro), who is next in line to gun down one of the hated Ferreiras family. Tonho's younger brother Ravi Ramos Lacerda), who doesn't have a name -- his father and mother (Rita Assemany) call him "kid" -- has nightmares of the latest murder that needs avenging, but he doesn't want his older sibling to become a killer.
Nonetheless, once the blood on the shirt worn by the victim turns yellow, Tonho is sent on his mission of assassination. He succeeds and must wait for his demise, prohibited from leaving by his psychotic father. Enter a wandering pair of circus entertainers, Salustiano Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos) and Clara Flavia Marco Antonio). The latter is a multitalented beauty who responds to Tonho's obvious infatuation, while her companion refuses to keep calling the younger boy "kid" and gives him the name Pacu.
A little romance and playfulness with swings and circus ropes provide an upbeat contrast to Tonho and Pacu's doomed-to-die-young fates, but it takes an unexpected tragedy and stronger-than-hate familial love to break the death cycle. Newcomer Lacerda, Dumont, Santoro and real-life circus performer Antonio are skilled at making their minimal characters fully dimensional, but the darkly atmospheric movie's biggest stars are Salles, cinematographer Walter Carvalho, soundman Felix Andrew and composer Antonio Pinto.
BEHIND THE SUN
Miramax Films
An Arthur Cohn production
Director: Walter Salles
Producer: Arthur Cohn
Screenwriters: Walter Salles, Sergio Machado, Karim Ainouz
Inspired by the novel "Broken April" by: Ismail Kadare
Executive producers: Mauricio Andrade Ramos, Lillian Birnbaum
Director of photography: Walter Carvalho
Art director: Cassio Amarante
Editor: Isabelle Rathery
Sound designer: Felix Andrew
Costume designer: Cao Albuquerque
Music: Antonio Pinto
Color/stereo
Cast:
Father: Jose Dumont
Tonho: Rodrigo Santoro
Pacu: Ravi Ramos Lacerda
Clara: Flavia Marco Antonio
Mother: Rita Assemany
Salustiano: Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA...
Inspired by Ismail Kadare's novel "Broken April", set in Albania, Salles and co-writers Sergio Machado and Karim Ainouz have fashioned a widescreen period drama that holds one's attention but comes up short as a cinematic experience that will resonate strongly with all viewers.
Transporting Kadare's original to the Inhamuns Badlands in northern Brazil's Ceara state, "Sun" plays like a lengthy short story or a short novella stretched to feature length. There are a handful of characters and few plot points that entail long scenes. As with his previous film, Salles tells much of the story with minimal dialogue and proves again to be a very talented visual artist.
What's missing in the film is the one character who can command the same attention as the film's technical virtues, while the horrid atmosphere of dread that hangs over the film is predictably destined to be broken. One comes away from the film in perhaps a gloomier mood than was intended, however, because there is nobody to enthusiastically root for. It's more a case of just hoping one or two folk survive the carnage.
The Breves family was once a proud supplier of sugar in the desert-y nowhere they call home, but the decline began with the abolition of slavery, and now the reigning patriarch (Jose Dumont) is forced to drive the oxen himself at the old mill where the sugar is processed. A very hard man who proudly remembers his many brothers and uncles who died defending the family's honor, this nameless father has a 20-year-old son, Tonho (Rodrigo Santoro), who is next in line to gun down one of the hated Ferreiras family. Tonho's younger brother Ravi Ramos Lacerda), who doesn't have a name -- his father and mother (Rita Assemany) call him "kid" -- has nightmares of the latest murder that needs avenging, but he doesn't want his older sibling to become a killer.
Nonetheless, once the blood on the shirt worn by the victim turns yellow, Tonho is sent on his mission of assassination. He succeeds and must wait for his demise, prohibited from leaving by his psychotic father. Enter a wandering pair of circus entertainers, Salustiano Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos) and Clara Flavia Marco Antonio). The latter is a multitalented beauty who responds to Tonho's obvious infatuation, while her companion refuses to keep calling the younger boy "kid" and gives him the name Pacu.
A little romance and playfulness with swings and circus ropes provide an upbeat contrast to Tonho and Pacu's doomed-to-die-young fates, but it takes an unexpected tragedy and stronger-than-hate familial love to break the death cycle. Newcomer Lacerda, Dumont, Santoro and real-life circus performer Antonio are skilled at making their minimal characters fully dimensional, but the darkly atmospheric movie's biggest stars are Salles, cinematographer Walter Carvalho, soundman Felix Andrew and composer Antonio Pinto.
BEHIND THE SUN
Miramax Films
An Arthur Cohn production
Director: Walter Salles
Producer: Arthur Cohn
Screenwriters: Walter Salles, Sergio Machado, Karim Ainouz
Inspired by the novel "Broken April" by: Ismail Kadare
Executive producers: Mauricio Andrade Ramos, Lillian Birnbaum
Director of photography: Walter Carvalho
Art director: Cassio Amarante
Editor: Isabelle Rathery
Sound designer: Felix Andrew
Costume designer: Cao Albuquerque
Music: Antonio Pinto
Color/stereo
Cast:
Father: Jose Dumont
Tonho: Rodrigo Santoro
Pacu: Ravi Ramos Lacerda
Clara: Flavia Marco Antonio
Mother: Rita Assemany
Salustiano: Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA...
A worthy but somewhat less-than-satisfying follow-up to the Oscar-nominated "Central Station", Brazilian director Walter Salles and producer Arthur Cohn's "Behind the Sun" is a somber tale of a blood feud depicted as an endless cycle of ritual violence. Distributor Miramax can count on Salles' name to lure dedicated cineastes for limited engagements, but "Sun" is probably not destined for boxoffice or awards vindication.
Inspired by Ismail Kadare's novel "Broken April", set in Albania, Salles and co-writers Sergio Machado and Karim Ainouz have fashioned a widescreen period drama that holds one's attention but comes up short as a cinematic experience that will resonate strongly with all viewers.
Transporting Kadare's original to the Inhamuns Badlands in northern Brazil's Ceara state, "Sun" plays like a lengthy short story or a short novella stretched to feature length. There are a handful of characters and few plot points that entail long scenes. As with his previous film, Salles tells much of the story with minimal dialogue and proves again to be a very talented visual artist.
What's missing in the film is the one character who can command the same attention as the film's technical virtues, while the horrid atmosphere of dread that hangs over the film is predictably destined to be broken. One comes away from the film in perhaps a gloomier mood than was intended, however, because there is nobody to enthusiastically root for. It's more a case of just hoping one or two folk survive the carnage.
The Breves family was once a proud supplier of sugar in the desert-y nowhere they call home, but the decline began with the abolition of slavery, and now the reigning patriarch (Jose Dumont) is forced to drive the oxen himself at the old mill where the sugar is processed. A very hard man who proudly remembers his many brothers and uncles who died defending the family's honor, this nameless father has a 20-year-old son, Tonho (Rodrigo Santoro), who is next in line to gun down one of the hated Ferreiras family. Tonho's younger brother Ravi Ramos Lacerda), who doesn't have a name -- his father and mother (Rita Assemany) call him "kid" -- has nightmares of the latest murder that needs avenging, but he doesn't want his older sibling to become a killer.
Nonetheless, once the blood on the shirt worn by the victim turns yellow, Tonho is sent on his mission of assassination. He succeeds and must wait for his demise, prohibited from leaving by his psychotic father. Enter a wandering pair of circus entertainers, Salustiano Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos) and Clara Flavia Marco Antonio). The latter is a multitalented beauty who responds to Tonho's obvious infatuation, while her companion refuses to keep calling the younger boy "kid" and gives him the name Pacu.
A little romance and playfulness with swings and circus ropes provide an upbeat contrast to Tonho and Pacu's doomed-to-die-young fates, but it takes an unexpected tragedy and stronger-than-hate familial love to break the death cycle. Newcomer Lacerda, Dumont, Santoro and real-life circus performer Antonio are skilled at making their minimal characters fully dimensional, but the darkly atmospheric movie's biggest stars are Salles, cinematographer Walter Carvalho, soundman Felix Andrew and composer Antonio Pinto.
BEHIND THE SUN
Miramax Films
An Arthur Cohn production
Director: Walter Salles
Producer: Arthur Cohn
Screenwriters: Walter Salles, Sergio Machado, Karim Ainouz
Inspired by the novel "Broken April" by: Ismail Kadare
Executive producers: Mauricio Andrade Ramos, Lillian Birnbaum
Director of photography: Walter Carvalho
Art director: Cassio Amarante
Editor: Isabelle Rathery
Sound designer: Felix Andrew
Costume designer: Cao Albuquerque
Music: Antonio Pinto
Color/stereo
Cast:
Father: Jose Dumont
Tonho: Rodrigo Santoro
Pacu: Ravi Ramos Lacerda
Clara: Flavia Marco Antonio
Mother: Rita Assemany
Salustiano: Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA...
Inspired by Ismail Kadare's novel "Broken April", set in Albania, Salles and co-writers Sergio Machado and Karim Ainouz have fashioned a widescreen period drama that holds one's attention but comes up short as a cinematic experience that will resonate strongly with all viewers.
Transporting Kadare's original to the Inhamuns Badlands in northern Brazil's Ceara state, "Sun" plays like a lengthy short story or a short novella stretched to feature length. There are a handful of characters and few plot points that entail long scenes. As with his previous film, Salles tells much of the story with minimal dialogue and proves again to be a very talented visual artist.
What's missing in the film is the one character who can command the same attention as the film's technical virtues, while the horrid atmosphere of dread that hangs over the film is predictably destined to be broken. One comes away from the film in perhaps a gloomier mood than was intended, however, because there is nobody to enthusiastically root for. It's more a case of just hoping one or two folk survive the carnage.
The Breves family was once a proud supplier of sugar in the desert-y nowhere they call home, but the decline began with the abolition of slavery, and now the reigning patriarch (Jose Dumont) is forced to drive the oxen himself at the old mill where the sugar is processed. A very hard man who proudly remembers his many brothers and uncles who died defending the family's honor, this nameless father has a 20-year-old son, Tonho (Rodrigo Santoro), who is next in line to gun down one of the hated Ferreiras family. Tonho's younger brother Ravi Ramos Lacerda), who doesn't have a name -- his father and mother (Rita Assemany) call him "kid" -- has nightmares of the latest murder that needs avenging, but he doesn't want his older sibling to become a killer.
Nonetheless, once the blood on the shirt worn by the victim turns yellow, Tonho is sent on his mission of assassination. He succeeds and must wait for his demise, prohibited from leaving by his psychotic father. Enter a wandering pair of circus entertainers, Salustiano Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos) and Clara Flavia Marco Antonio). The latter is a multitalented beauty who responds to Tonho's obvious infatuation, while her companion refuses to keep calling the younger boy "kid" and gives him the name Pacu.
A little romance and playfulness with swings and circus ropes provide an upbeat contrast to Tonho and Pacu's doomed-to-die-young fates, but it takes an unexpected tragedy and stronger-than-hate familial love to break the death cycle. Newcomer Lacerda, Dumont, Santoro and real-life circus performer Antonio are skilled at making their minimal characters fully dimensional, but the darkly atmospheric movie's biggest stars are Salles, cinematographer Walter Carvalho, soundman Felix Andrew and composer Antonio Pinto.
BEHIND THE SUN
Miramax Films
An Arthur Cohn production
Director: Walter Salles
Producer: Arthur Cohn
Screenwriters: Walter Salles, Sergio Machado, Karim Ainouz
Inspired by the novel "Broken April" by: Ismail Kadare
Executive producers: Mauricio Andrade Ramos, Lillian Birnbaum
Director of photography: Walter Carvalho
Art director: Cassio Amarante
Editor: Isabelle Rathery
Sound designer: Felix Andrew
Costume designer: Cao Albuquerque
Music: Antonio Pinto
Color/stereo
Cast:
Father: Jose Dumont
Tonho: Rodrigo Santoro
Pacu: Ravi Ramos Lacerda
Clara: Flavia Marco Antonio
Mother: Rita Assemany
Salustiano: Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA...
- 12/12/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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