Caio Junqueira
The third episode of the Cities of Love franchise, Rio, I Love You is an anthology, created by 10 visionary directors from across the globe. The story line of each segment focuses on an encounter of love in a different neighborhood of the city, demonstrating the distinctive qualities and character of that location. The film serves to bridge gaps between cultures, educating and entertaining the audience, while celebrating unique and universal expressions of love.
"Party Crashers" chronicles the amusing encounter between Marco Polo (Marcelo Adnet), a Copacabana's trickster, and Beto (Eduardo Sterblitch), a boy passionate and somewhat pixilated, on the New Year's Eve in Rio. Together they crashes at parties and create a lot of confusion in search of the beautiful Laura.
In 1997, before the visit of the pope to Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento from BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) is assigned to eliminate the risks of the drug dealers in a dangerous slum nearby where the pope intends to be lodged.
Covering the last years of the famous Brazilian fashion designer in her doomed quest for justice, Zuzu Angel follows the case of her activist son Stuart's arrest, torture, murder, and subsequent corpse disposal by the military forces in early 1970s Rio de Janeiro, during the darkest era of Brazilian military regime and media censorship.
A light-hearted and high-spirited story, full of spice, sensuality and romance, Viva Zapato tells the tale of Dolores, a beautiful Cuban dancer who decides to leave her failing marriage and open a restaurant by the beach with her aunt from Brazil. When her aunt sends her a pair of shoes instead of the money to start up the restaurant, she angrily sells the useless gift for spare change. Her dream fades away - until she discovers that the money was hidden in the heel. The zany search for the shoes begins, as she follows the footsteps through the lively streets of Havana, running into the quirky, colorful characters that bring Viva Zapato and Dolores' dream.
Apolônio Brasil was a cult pianist who used to play in nightclubs in Rio de Janeiro, in the 1950s and 1960s. Quite a character, Apolônio was loved by women, idolized by his audience and friends, besides being extremely high-spirited and charming. For all that, his brain is removed after his death and becomes the center of a dispute among an American scientist, Dr. Bóris, who wants to study it, his friends and his son Paluca. The film is an attempt to pay homage to the nightlife in Rio de Janeiro of the 50s, and to the "chanchada" a genre of musical-comedy typically Brazilian. - Written by [email protected]
Brazilian badlands, April 1910. Tonho is ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother. The young man knows that if he commits this crime, his life will be divided in two: the twenty years he has already lived and the few days he has left to live, before the other family avenges their son's death. He is torn between fulfilling his ancestral duty and rebelling against it, urged by his younger brother Pacu. That's when a tiny travelling circus passes through the vast badlands where Tonho's family lives.
Three stories set on Brazil countryside. In Foice, a weeder becomes head of his group and awakes the envy of his best friend. In Veneno, a cowboy cannot sleep, waiting for the revenge from a enemy of the past. And in Machado, a quiet and rude rose maker decides to end his wife's joy of living.
An emotive journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.
After stirring society by leaving her groom at the alter and going directly to a prostitution house, a young model becomes the city's most famous harlot, known as "Hilda the Hurricane", in the 50's Brazil. She could do fine if it wasn't for Malthus, a young novice said to be a saint, for whom she falls in love. However, the boy is kept under the strict, severe doctrine of Father Nelson, a conservative priest intolerant even to every minor sin. Things start getting harder when Roberto, Malthus' old friend and a communist reporter (the actual author of the story), tries to interview Hilda and disclosure the real reasons behind her radical change of mind. In the meantime, the middle-classes are terrified by the "leftist threat" in Brazilian politics.
Fernando, a journalist, and his friend César join terrorist group MR8 in order to fight Brazilian dictatorial regime during the late sixties. Cesare, however, is wounded and captured during a bank hold up. Fernando then decides to kidnap the American ambassador in Brazil and ask for the release of fifteen political prisoners in exchange for his life.
Farmer raised in the USA returns to Brazil when he discovers that his uncle is involved with some illegal activities.
