MOVIES, ASPIRIN AND VULTURES (Marcelo Gomes - Brazil 2005)
The film has the potentially great pretext of a young German trying to sell the recently discovered aspirin in the Northeast of Brazil during World War II, molded in a kind of road-movie. The discovery of aspirin is one of those little forgotten things in history. Sadly, the result is only mildly interesting and certainly not a great film.
Not much is done with the potentially funny pretext; A German traveling through northeastern Brazil in 1942 is something different, either for Brazilians back then, or contemporary Brazilians, or any audience around the world. Nobody seems to bother. And many of the scenes where he tries to sell aspirin with the help of a promo film (he brought a film projector) about headaches and the curing qualities of the product, could have been funny or touching, but it's executed in quite a lacklustre way. A real shame. Secondly, the cinematography. They shot on location in North-East Brazil, but the interesting locale is mostly left unused.
Not a bad film perse, it has some interesting moments but it suffers from a lack of inspiration and could have used a little more plot. The rural setting in NE-Brazil is interesting, especially for a European spectator but otherwise not a very engaging film. Messy, uninspired and a lack of ideas.
Camera Obscura --- 5/10
The film has the potentially great pretext of a young German trying to sell the recently discovered aspirin in the Northeast of Brazil during World War II, molded in a kind of road-movie. The discovery of aspirin is one of those little forgotten things in history. Sadly, the result is only mildly interesting and certainly not a great film.
Not much is done with the potentially funny pretext; A German traveling through northeastern Brazil in 1942 is something different, either for Brazilians back then, or contemporary Brazilians, or any audience around the world. Nobody seems to bother. And many of the scenes where he tries to sell aspirin with the help of a promo film (he brought a film projector) about headaches and the curing qualities of the product, could have been funny or touching, but it's executed in quite a lacklustre way. A real shame. Secondly, the cinematography. They shot on location in North-East Brazil, but the interesting locale is mostly left unused.
Not a bad film perse, it has some interesting moments but it suffers from a lack of inspiration and could have used a little more plot. The rural setting in NE-Brazil is interesting, especially for a European spectator but otherwise not a very engaging film. Messy, uninspired and a lack of ideas.
Camera Obscura --- 5/10