antonia Tagged Articles at Cinematical

My pick of the week comes from Brazil: Antonia. Directed by Tata Amaral, Antonia is an engaging, low-key pleasure about four women that live in a poor, crime-ridden neighborhood in São Paolo but have dreams of fame and fortune. As I've written before, "the beauty of Antonia is its down-to-earth nature. These women are not super-heroines, nor do they expect any special treatment just because they can sing like angels. They just want a fair shake." The DVD includes a behind the scenes feature and a music video.

From the Eastern European front, both Czech Dream and The Way I Spent the End of the World have received good critical notices. Czech Dream is perhaps best described as a subversive, activist documentary look at the dangers of rampant consumerism, while End of the World is a "tragic-comic coming-of-age tale." DVD details on both titles are scarce.

An early, entirely distasteful scene in Drama/Mex soured me on the film, yet others have been won over by its stylish excess and primal urgency in telling three related stories in a seaside town. DVD details are not available. Cinematical's Jette Kernion called The Girl Next Door "nightmare-inducing," and not in a good way; it's a family drama set in the 1950s featuring physical torture. The DVD includes two audio commentaries, interviews with the cast and crew, and a "making of" feature.

Ryan Stewart had many things to say about The Hottest State, none of them good, so you may want to check out his review before renting this drama featuring Laura Linney and directed by Ethan Hawke. The DVD includes a commentary with Hawke and the crew and a short film by Hawke. The latest version of Lady Chatterley generated highly enthusiastic early reviews, which did not impress Nick Schager, who said the film "shouldn't be associated with the term 'cinematic' in almost any way, shape or form." The DVD includes trailers and a photo gallery.

"Premiere Brazil!" is wrapping up this weekend in New York. It's the fifth edition of an annual series mounted by the Museum of Modern Art in collaboration with the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival. indieWIRE noted that the series opened with Antonia, "which neatly encapsulated the two major themes -- music and poverty -- found throughout most of the program's dozen films." Antonia is due for U.S. release on August 17; as I wrote last month, it's "an engaging, low-key pleasure."

Receiving its North American Premiere, Beto Brant's Stray Dog (pictured) looks at "the sneaky illnesses of cancer or depression, which even youth and love cannot prevent." From the trailer (available at the production company's site), it appears to focus on a young couple. A novel by Daniel Galera provided the source material. I haven't found any formal reviews, but the comments at IMDb have been generally favorable. Stray Dog opened in Brazil in May.

Alice's House played earlier this year at the Berlin, Guadalajara, Miami and Buenos Aires film festivals, so it could be headed for more U.S. festival exposure. Documentary filmmaker Chico Teixeira's debut feature revolves around Alice (Carla Ribas), a beauty parlor worker and married mother of three sons. Based on the description, it sounds like a dreamy mix of fears and fantasies about marital infidelity. MoMa provides information on all the films, including a retrospective screening of the landmark 1981 film Pixote, the Law of the Weakest, several documentaries on Brazilian music, and the dramatic features The Twelve Labours and Forbidden to Forbid.