2021 Blind Spot Series: Pixote

 

Based on the novel A Infancia dos Mortos (The Childhood of the Dead Ones) by Jose Louzeiro, Pixote is the story of a young boy who is used by corrupt military and police officials to commit crimes and smuggle drugs as a means to survive in the chaotic lower-class area of Brazil. Directed by Hector Babenco and screenplay by Babenco and Jorge Duran, the film is a look into the world of corruption where a young boy tries to survive a world that is intense and brutal as the titular character is played by Fernando Ramos da Silva. Also starring Jorge Juliao, Gilberto Moura, and Edilson Lino. Pixote is a gripping and haunting film from Hector Babenco.

The film revolves around the journey of a ten-year old boy who is part of a number of juvenile delinquents who is taken to a reformatory center as he endures a lot of horrors where he would escape with a few other young men and go into a world of crime. It is a film with a simple premise yet it explores the life of a young boy who encounters a lot of what is going on during a period of Brazil’s rule under a military dictatorship where he does what he can to survive. The film’s screenplay by Hector Babenco and Jorge Duran is largely straightforward in its narrative as it follows the many ordeals of Pixote as a boy who had been captured by the police and is sent to this reformatory center where kids would be raped by older kids while they do drugs and all sorts of shit. The first act largely takes place in this reformatory center where Pixote has to accept the new reality he’s in to keep himself out of trouble while he befriends the stoner Fumaca (Zenildo Oliveira Santos), the transgender hooker Lilica (Jorge Juliao), the intense Dito (Gilberto Moura), and Chico (Edilson Lino).

The second act following a riot and later an escape over the deaths of a few kids by corrupt police officials, Pixote, Lilica, Dito, and Chico go to Sao Paulo to become street thieves and later meet a former lover of Lilica in the drug dealer Cristal (Tony Tornado) who gives them a chance to deal with a showgirl in Debora (Elke Maravilha) in Rio de Janeiro where things don’t exactly go well where they return to Sao Paulo where the film’s third act has them teaming with a prostitute in Sueli (Marilia Pera). These trips and encounters that Pixote would have that include moments of violence has him dealing with growing up too fast but also losing so much of his innocence in a world that is just unruly and cruel.

Babenco’s direction is definitely intense in terms of presentation as it has this documentary-like feel to maintain this air of realism of what is happening during this period of military dictatorship in Brazil in its final years. Shot on various locations in Brazil including Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Babenco does use wide and medium shots to establish the locations but often maintains an intimacy with the usage of the latter and close-ups including scenes at the reformatory bedrooms where it does feel cramped and over-crowded. Even as Babenco would use the wide shots for some of the exteriors where it doesn’t feel as crowded but there is this air of decay in the building but also an air of hopelessness despite the fact that there’s a few people who at least are trying to be fair despite some awful people living in that building. Notably in a scene where Lilica is having to dance in front of a group of men and is berated with a lot of homophobic and transphobic slurs at him. Babenco also uses a lot of hand-held cameras that include these wide shots of Pixote, Dito, and Chico stealing purses and wallets from people walking in the streets of Sao Paulo.

Babenco also play up the reality of what Brazil is outside of this postcard imagery of gorgeous beaches and vibrancy despite a scene at the beach where Pixote, Chico, and Lilica are thinking about the future and what to do if they succeed. Yet, each act would end with tragedy and violence as the end of the second act has Pixote committing his first murder out of rage, grief, and feeling cheated. It is where Babenco returns to this reality of slums as it is a reflection of what Brazil really is where people live in decayed and poor homes where Pixote and his friends would stay with Sueli. It is a world that is unforgiving but there’s also something lively about it though it also has this tension of what Lilica realizes knowing that he can’t be part of this world while being aware he doesn’t fit in with the conventions of society. For Pixote, the events in the third act are revelations of who he is but also this air of uncertainty for young kids like him who don’t come from stable homes and are forced to fend for themselves. Overall, Babenco crafts an unsettling yet rapturous film about a young boy trying to survive the cruel world of reformatories and crime in Brazil.

Cinematographer Rodolfo Sanchez does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of grainy film stock to maintain a sense of realism as well as interior/exterior scenes at night that has some vibrancy in the presentation while maintaining its gritty tone. Editor Luiz Elias does excellent work with the editing as it has elements of style in some jump-cuts and slow-motion bits as it adds to the drama and the film’s intense presentation. Art director Clovis Bueno does fantastic work with the look of Sueli’s home including her bedroom as well as the home of Cristal and the interiors of the room where the kids sleep at the reformatory. Costume designer Carminha Guarana is terrific as it play up the ragged look of the kids along with some of the more lavish clothing of Cristal and the sleazy look of Sueli.

The makeup work of Josefina “Nena” de Oliveira is wonderful to not just play into Lilica’s own look at times to look feminine but also the look of Sueli to play up her sleazy presentation. The sound work of Hugo Gama is superb as it help play up the atmosphere of the locations as well as how music sounds from a radio and the way sounds of angry kids are presented during the reformatory riot. The film’s music by John Neschling is amazing for its understated and plaintive piano-based orchestral score that play into the drama and a lot of the terror that Pixote encounters while the music soundtrack features an array of music ranging from rock, pop, and disco as it plays into the chaotic world that Pixote and his friends live in.

The film’s marvelous ensemble cast feature some notable small roles from Joao Jose Pompeo as the dirty cop Almir, Israel Feres David as the cripple delinquent who is also a singer, Jardel Filho as a reformatory center superintendent who is trying to maintain control as he’s a man that means well despite some of his motives, Claudio Bernardo as a young delinquent in Garatao who was Lilica’s lover, Tony Tornado as a flamboyant drug dealer in Cristal who was one of Lilica’s former lovers, Zenildo Oliveira Santos as the stoner delinquent Fumaca whom Pixote befriends early in the film, and Elke Maravilha as a showgirl whom Dito does a deal with as it would up going very badly. Edilson Lino is fantastic as Chico as a young delinquent that Pixote befriends as he takes part in the world of crime where he hopes he can become a successful criminal. Marilia Pera is excellent as the prostitute Sueli as a woman who is seen as a maternal figure for Pixote despite her alcoholism and cruel demeanor at times where she brings tension within the group as it relates to Lilica.

Gilberto Moura is brilliant as Dito as a mid-teen delinquent who is good at futbol as he becomes Lilica’s new lover only to be more interested in women and crime as he becomes the leader of the gang. Jorge Juliao is amazing as Lilica as a transgender delinquent/prostitute who ventures into the world of crime and acts like an older brother to Pixote while dealing with Sueli’s presence as he feels threatened by her in how she gets Dito’s attention. Finally, there’s Fernando Ramos da Silva in a phenomenal performance as the titular character as this ten-year old boy who endures cruelty, abuse, and uncertainty as he embarks on this treacherous journey where he’s forced to grow up too fast while coping with innocence loss as da Silva just exudes a lot of the anguish and curiosity of this character that adds a lot of realism to his performance.

As part of the 2020 dual-disc box set in the third volume of Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project with five other films, the Region A Blu-Ray/Region 1 DVD set presents the film in a newly restored 4K digital transfer with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack for the Blu-Ray release in its 1:85:1 aspect ratio as it shares the disc with the film Dos Monjes and its special features. The special features on both the DVD and Blu-Ray feature a three-and-a-half minute introduction by Martin Scorsese about the film’s restoration as he talks about a lot of what the film needed as its restoration was overseen by the World Cinema Project in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna and permission from the family/estate of Hector Babenco with work from cinematographer Rodolfo Sanchez and one of the film’s original sound engineers in Jose Luis Sasso, along with sound editor Beto Ferraz, who helps restore the sound mixing for the film while Scorsese discuss the film’s impact upon its release and how it served as an international breakthrough for Babenco.

For its U.S. release back in the early 80s, Babenco creates a two-minute prologue about the film with his star Fernando Ramos da Silva to discuss the conditions that the children in Brazil were living in at the time as well as the harsh realities they’re forced to deal with da Silva seen at his home where he lives in a small shack with nine other siblings. The 22-minute featurette on Hector Babenco are excerpts from a March 25, 2016 interview for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Visual History Program Collection just months before his death on July 13, 2016. Babenco talks about his early life as well as his love for cinema as well as his early films prior to Pixote. Babenco also talks about the film as well as his approach to directing the young actors at the time as he admitted that it wasn’t easy to gain their trust but also showed what he had to do as it gave him a lot of confidence in the story he wanted to tell.

The essay on the film entitled Pixote: Out in the Streets by Stephanie Dennison who is a cultural professor and author at the University of Leeds discusses not just the historical context of Brazil when the film was made but also the film culture at the time where some of its premier filmmakers such as Glauber Rocha and Joao Silverio Trevisan were either exiled or forced to make films that weren’t good despite the landmark films they made for the country in the past. Babenco’s role for Brazilian cinema, even though he was born in Argentina, would play into this growing change in Brazil’s political landscape as the years of military dictatorship is coming to an end. Dennison talks about the film and its production as well as the contribution of acting coach Fatima Toledo who was also an instrumental figure in two other landmark Brazilian films in Central Station and City of God who would be the one to help coach the young actors for Babenco’s film.

Dennison also talks about the film in general as well as the struggles that the titular character goes through along with his friends in a world where they live on the fringes of society as kids are often targeted by corrupt policeman who just want to maintain this sense of control. The film’s initial release in Brazil was received with mixed reviews as Babenco was criticized by the left for not doing more to explore the social issues in the film as Babenco stated he is not interested in politics. Despite its mixed reaction in Brazil, the film would win a lot of international critic’s prizes at various film festivals and would give Babenco the chance to make bigger films outside of Brazil including Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ironweed, and At Play in the Fields of the Lord. Babenco would return to Brazil in the late 90s as the country would go into its own period of change but also cope with the things that Babenco told in his breakthrough film still remains as the country is currently another social state of disarray.

Pixote is a tremendous film from Hector Babenco that features a great leading performance from the late Fernando Ramos da Silva. Along with its ensemble cast, gritty visuals, themes of uncertainty in an unforgiving environment, and a somber music score. The film is definitely an unflinching and haunting film that explores a young boy dealing with a world that is cruel as he’s forced to go into crime as a means to survive while dealing with his own loss of innocence. In the end, Pixote is a magnificent film from Hector Babenco.

Hector Babenco Films: (O Fabuloso Fittipaldi) – (King of the Night) – (Lucio Flavio) – Kiss of the Spider Woman - (Ironweed) – (At Play in the Fields of the Lord) – (Foolish Heart) – (Carandiru) – (El Pasado) – (Words with God) – (My Hindu Friend)

© thevoid99 2021

Before Night Falls

Based on Reinaldo Arenas’ biography, Before Night Falls is the story about the life of the Cuban poet/novelist who was openly gay at a time when the political situation in Cuba was tense as homosexuality was considered very taboo. Directed by Julian Schnabel and screenplay by Schnabel, Cunningham O’Keefe, and Lazaro Gomez Carriles, the film is an exploration on the life of a man who would have a profound view of the world as he would write his experiences in and out of Cuba through his work as he is played by Javier Bardem. Also starring Olivier Martinez, Hector Babenco, Andrea Di Stefano, Santiago Magill, Michael Wincott, Sean Penn, and Johnny Depp. Before Night Falls is a ravishing and mesmerizing film from Julian Schnabel.

The film explores the life and works of Reinaldo Arenas through key periods in his life from coming of age during the Cuban Revolution to being a dissident over his homosexuality which would lead to his exile on the Mariel Boatlift of 1980. Told largely through Arenas’ own work and his poetry, the film showcases the events that would drive Arenas to write as well as his encounters with people and political situations that would inspire him. The film is told in different parts of his life from his childhood and desire to join the Revolution in its final days as well as key events that would get him attention for his writing as well as controversy as the Cuban government believe his writing his counter-revolutionary. The film’s screenplay plays into these events including a time during the 1970s were Arenas would become a fugitive over accusations of child molestation as he would be in prison which would inspire to write his most famous novel.

The script also plays into Arenas’ encounters with men that would drive his homosexuality as well as meet the film’s co-writer Lazaro Gomez Carriles (Olivier Martinez) who would be Arenas’ partner in Arenas’ final years. The use of voice-over narration plays into a reflective tone in Arenas’ view of his life in those times while his poetry and text from his own novels would add to the narration. Much of it would play into Arenas’ growing awareness of his homosexuality where it was very taboo during the early years of the Fidel Castro-led regime in Cuba. Even as homosexuality was seen as subversive with ideas of capitalism which was frowned upon though Arenas would counter those claims as false. By the time the film reaches its third act, it does become less reflective where Arenas adjust to his new life but also in the illness that would eventually claim his life.

Julian Schnabel’s direction is very stylish for the way he presents the film with not just some unique camera angles but also with evocative images that play into a sense of visual poetry that is in line with Arenas’ words. Though the film is shot largely on location in Mexico as Cuba, it does feel like a place that was once idyllic in its landscapes in the woods and old cities that were once full of life. Even amidst this sense of political chaos that would surround Arenas as Schanbel uses old footage of Cuba during its Revolution and at a time when Castro came into power. Schnabel definitely aims for this mix of cinema verite and stylish camera work to play into Arenas’ life from his time in the beach with his gay friends where they would hustle as well as Arenas in his surroundings in the forest where crane shots and all sorts of things are used to play into the beauty of those locations.

The direction also plays into these moments where Arenas talks about how to identify gays in 1960s Cuba as well as endure attempts to get his work published outside of Cuba as his writing succumbs to censorship. Especially as he is misidentified as a child molester in the mid-1970s by a couple of youths who had stolen his things. There are intimate moments that play into Arenas’ stay in prison such as the isolation cell he is in as it’s mixed with elements of fantasy and reality to play into what he is thinking about. Once the film arrives in New York City, it sorts of starts off as a documentary film until the drama into Arenas’ ailing health starts to arrive where the film does return to a more reflective tone as it plays into Arenas’ sense of longing for Cuba and the similarities it had in the way he looks at New York City. Overall, Schnabel crafts a very intoxicating and rapturous film about the life of a gay yet brave writer.

Cinematographers Xavier Perez Grobet and Guillermo Rosas do brilliant work with the film‘s lush and colorful cinematography with its high emphasis on green and natural colors for the scenes set at the forest along with stylish lights and filters for scenes at night while using low-key lights for some of the film‘s interiors. Editor Michael Berenbaum does amazing work with the editing in its usage of jump-cuts, montages, and stock footage to play into the sense of style as well as rhythmic cuts to match the tone of Arenas‘ narration of his work. Production designer Salvador Parra, with set decorator Laurie Friedman and art director Antonio Muno-Hierro, does fantastic work with the set pieces from the look of some of the interior buildings including the interrogation room that Arenas would be in as well as the apartment he would have in New York City. Costume designer Maria Estela Fernandez does excellent work with the costumes from the clothes that were worn in the 1960s including the stuff gay men wore as well as the tight pants and stylish shirts of the 70s they would wear to get themselves out of Cuba.

Makeup designer Ana Lozano does nice work with the look of Arenas throughout the years including his ailing look in the late 1980s where he loses bits of his hair and color in his face. Visual effects supervisor Randall Balsmeyer does terrific work with some of the film‘s minimal visual effects which is often served as set-dressing for the scenes in Cuba as well as the opening shot of the scene in New York City. Sound editor Robert Hein does superb work with the sound from the way some of the music on location is played along with the prison scenes as well as the intimate moments in New York City. The film’s music by Carter Burwell is phenomenal for its soaring and lush orchestral music to play into the drama while its soundtrack that is assembled by music supervisors Susan Jacobs and Olatz Lopez Garmendia features some original score pieces by Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson plus an array of Cuban music and some ambient-based score music by Popol Vuh.

The casting by Monica Nordhaus is incredible as it includes notable small roles from Olatz Lopez Garmendia as Arenas’ mother, Pedro Armendiaz Jr. as Arenas’ grandfather, Vito Maria Schnabel as the teenage Arenas, Diego Luna as a friend of the young Arenas, Sean Penn as a farmer who would accompany the teenage Arenas to a town where Castro and his rebels were, Francisco Gattorno and Marisol Padilla Sanchez as a couple of publishers who would bring Arenas’ writing to Europe, Michael Wincott as a mentor of Arenas who would encourage him to write, Najwa Nimri as the mentor’s wife, and Hector Babenco in a terrific performance as Virgillo Pinera who would help broaden Arenas’ view on literature by giving him books by great authors in order to become a better writer. Andrea di Stefano is excellent as one of Arenas’ early lovers Pepe Malas while Santiago Magill is superb as another of Arenas’ gay friends in Tomas Diego.

Johnny Depp is brilliant in a dual role as a prison drag queen named Bon Bon who would help try to get Arenas out of prison while being a far more sinister character in Lt. Victor in a chilling interrogation scene. Olivier Martinez is fantastic as Lazaro Gomez Carriles whom Arenas would meet at one point in the 1960s only to reconnect with him in the 1970s where Carriles aspires to be a writer and later becomes Arenas’ partner and caretaker. Finally, there’s Javier Bardem in a tremendous performance as Reinaldo Arenas as this very gifted poet who sees the world around him as he creates poems and novels to express his feelings while coping with the Castro regime as it’s a performance full of charm and humor but also a melancholia as it’s one of Bardem’s great performances.

Before Night Falls is a remarkable film from Julian Schnabel that features a truly sensational performance from Javier Bardem. The film isn’t just a unique portrait into one of the most captivating writers of the 20th Century but also a look into a man trying to maintain his identity in a troubled and complicated world. In the end, Before Night Falls is an outstanding film Julian Schnabel.

Julian Schnabel Films: Basquiat - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Berlin: Live at St. Ann’s Warehouse - Miral - At Eternity's Gate - The Auteurs #43: Julian Schnabel

© thevoid99 2015

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Based on the novel by Manuel Puig, Kiss of the Spider Woman is the story of two different men imprisoned at a Brazilian jail cell as they talk about a film to kill the time. The film they discuss would parallel their own fate as they each try to figure out what to do with the time they spend in prison. Directed by Hector Babenco and with a script adapted by Leonard Schrader, the film is a mixture of two different narratives as told by a gay man and a political prisoner. Starring Raul Julia, William Hurt, Sonia Braga, Milton Goncalves, and Jose Lewgoy. Kiss of the Spider Woman is a marvelous film from Hector Babenco.

Sharing a cell in a Brazilian prison are two different men for two very different crimes as the flamboyant Luis Molina (William Hurt) tells a story about a film he had seen many years ago to his cellmate Valentin Arregui (Raul Julia). Luis is in prison for having sex with an underage boy while Valentin is serving time for his radical political beliefs. In order to kill time, Luis tells the often aggravated Valentin the film he saw about a French woman (Sonia Braga) who falls for a Nazi officer (Herson Capri) in World War II as she becomes confused about her role due to her unwilling involvement with the French resistance. Though Valentin always keep watching who is being taken and tortured, he wonders about what is going on in the outside world.

Valentin eventually reveals stories about his own life and why he went to prison as he and Luis become close. With Valentin’s health failing due to bad food, Luis takes care of him by telling him the film about the French woman and another one about a spider woman (Sonia Braga) to comfort him. When Luis is set to be paroled, he spends his last moments with Valentin as Luis tries to hide a dark secret for the reasons he’s being released. Suddenly, Luis’s own life and his predicament is paralleling the movie he told Valentin making him feel guilty for what he’s doing.

The film is simply about two different prisoners that becomes close during their time as one of them tells a story to help kill time. The story that this man tells involves betrayal and sacrifice as it would later parallel his own fate. Yet, it’s more about the relationship of these two different men that is the heart of the film. One is a very political yet intense man that wants to know what is going on while dealing with his own personal issues. The other is a charming homosexual that is just kind to everyone while yearning to be with a man. What happens is that a love story sort of comes out but not in a conventional format of what is expected.

Leonard Schrader’s screenplay is brilliant for the multi-layered storylines presented in the film as it’s carried mainly by the main bulk of the narrative involving the two prisoners. The other narrative about the French cabaret singer and the Nazi officer falls for is presented in a 1940s style melodrama. There’s also narratives that’s largely based on the memories of the two prisoners as Valentin’s own story involves the conflict he’s dealing with between politics and his love for a woman (Sonia Braga). For Luis, his pre-prison life has him revealing the care he has for his mother (Miriam Pires) and a straight waiter (Nuno Leal Maia). Schrader’s script succeeds in not playing to what the film-within-a-film narrative would foreshadow but also get into the heart of relationship between these two very different yet extreme men.

The direction of Hector Babenco ranges into many degrees of style for the film as the main bulk of the film involving Luis and Valentin is intimate yet wondrous as it opens with this wonderful 360 degree camera movement as Luis tells his story. Babenco goes for a very straightforward approach to the direction while maintaining a sense of style in his framing while the shots outside of the prison are shot on location in Sao Paulo. For the sequences that Luis telling from a film, the 1940s portion of the film is presented in a look that recalls the melodrama of the times. The film also dwells into many genres from prison drama, melodrama, and suspense as the suspense in the 1940s sequence do come back in a more intense manner for the film’s third act. The overall work Babenco does is thrilling and engaging as he creates a gorgeous yet mesmerizing film.

Cinematographer Rodolfo Sanchez does an amazing job with the film‘s photography to maintain a gritty though stylish look for the prison scenes with candle lights for the nighttime scenes and some colorful ones for some scenes in Sao Paulo. For the 1940s and Spider Woman fantasy scenes, both scenes take on different color palettes as the 1940s scene that takes on a sepia color while the Spider Woman sequences is all shot in blue. Editor Mauro Alice does an excellent job with the editing to help structure the different strands of narrative while moving them back and forth seamlessly without disrupting the flow of the film.

Art director Clovis Bueno does a great job with the set pieces created for the film such as the grimy cell Luis and Valentin live in to the lavish world of the 1940s scene. Costume designer Patricio Besso does a brilliant job with the costumes for the 1940s film scene to play its lavish tone along with a more colorful array of clothes for the character of Luis. Sound editor Susan Dudeck does a nice job with the sound work to capture the intimate chaos of the prison scenes while going for a more broader approach for the nightclub scene in the 1940s portion of the film. The film’s score by John Neschling and Nando Cordeiro is superb for its array of different styles of music. Ranging from dramatic violin music to play up the relationship between Luis and Valentin to cabaret style for the 1940s stuff along with suspenseful-driven electronic music for parts of the third act. The score is among one of the film’s highlights in its technical field.

The casting for the film is terrific as it features an amazing ensemble that includes Antonio Petrin and Wilson Grey as two French resistance agents, Denise Dumont as a friend of the cabaret singer, and Herson Capri as the Nazi officer the singer falls for as they all appear in the film set in the 1940s. Other notable performances include Miriam Pires as Luis’ mother, Nuno Leal Maia as a waiter friend of Luis, Milton Gonclaves as an abusive policeman, and Jose Lewgoy as a corrupt warden. Sonia Braga is great in a trio of roles to exemplify the personalities that the two men dwell into the film. For the role of the cabaret singer, Braga brings a very dramatized approach to the character to play up the tone of that film. In the role of the Spider Woman and as Valentin’s lover Marta, she goes for a more restrained approach in the latter while being more exotic in the former.

Finally, there’s the two phenomenal performances of William Hurt and Raul Julia that are truly the heart and soul of the film. Hurt brings a very captivating yet engaging performance as the sensitive Luis as he makes the man more than just a flamboyant homosexual. Hurt allows Luis to be very complex as he’s a man that is conflicted with what he’s set to do while trying to be a friend to Valentin. Julia’s performance as Valentin is a more fiery role than Hurt’s Luis as Julia gets to match up to Hurt’s showier performance by displaying the anguish Valentin is going through. Hurt and Julia together show different dynamics in their performances as the two together make one hell of a combo in what is truly acting at its finest.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is an extraordinary film from Hector Babenco that features outstanding performances from William Hurt and Raul Julia. Featuring a great supporting performance from Sonia Braga and a fascinating script by Leonard Schrader. It’s a film plays up the idea of fantasy and reality as it’s told with amazing style and through a solid cast that gives the film something more than what it is expected for a film that bends genres. Kiss of the Spider Woman is an imaginative yet evocative film from Hector Babenco.

Hector Babenco Films: (O Fabuloso Fittipaldi) - (King of the Night) - (Lucio Flacio, Passenger of Agony) - Pixote - (A Terra e Redonda Como uma Laranja) - (Ironweed) - (At Play in the Fields of the Lord) - (Foolish Heart) - (Carandiru) - (El Pasado) - (Words with God) - (My Hindu Friend)

© thevoid99 2011