This gripping documentary not only digs beneath the surface of one of the most outrageous events in Rio de Janeiro's history, but it also examines more universal issues about Brazilian society and the world as a whole. Director Padilha somehow got access to all of the television footage of this event, which he edits like a multi-camera thriller. And while the material and story are excellent, he obviously has trouble leaving anything out. This over-indulgence slightly weakens what could be an even more crackling, exciting, insightful doc.
On Brazilian Valentine's Day in June 2000, a desperate young man takes bus number 174 hostage, leading to a four-and-a-half-hour siege on the streets of Rio, which the entire nation watched live on TV! But there are two things the viewers didn't know, both of which are interspersed here: First is the background of the protagonist, Sandro do Nascimento, a very interesting young man who survived another seminal event--the 1993 Candelaria massacre, when Rio's cops opened fire on a crowd of street children, killing eight of them. Second is the behind-the-scenes drama on the bus, which is narrated for us by the survivors.
Entertainingly camp and unhinged, this wacky French farce is worth watching, even though it kind of fizzles out at the end. But for fans of lurid wackiness, there's plenty to enjoy here! The story centres on 23-year-old Thomas Beaumont (Merhar), whose mother Elisabeth is a top opera diva (Wiest). Thomas is lonely, looking for love in all the wrong places when he witnesses a horrific event that he finds out later is intimately linked to his own past. He runs to the psychologist Dr Rey, but mistakenly confesses all to the completely mad Penelope (Birkin), who's sitting in the doctor's office after an incident of her own. From here we meet a mysterious stranger (Salah), Elisabeth's diva pal (Ogier) and a twitchy cop (Flamand), and everyone is trying to get to the bottom of a series of events that have profound implications for Thomas.
In the summer of 1970 a group of top musicians took a groovy tour across Canada by train, playing concerts in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. But the trip was just as notable for the antics aboard the train as for the music they played! Now more than 30 years later the footage is finally edited into a documentary, complete with new interviews. It's a thoroughly enjoyable film for several reasons, mainly the music. This is the pure thing: raw, uncluttered rock and roll! The live performances simply make most of today's pop acts look like the manufactured hacks that they are. The Band, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy--these are astonishingly talented artists who seem to play effortlessly. It's simply impossible to pick a highlight. And the film captures not only their energetic stage acts but also impromptu on-board jam sessions and such off-stage antics as their emergency stop in Saskatoon to restock the train's bar.
Without rewriting the libretto, French filmmaker Resnais puts this 1925 operetta right up there on the big screen in three acts, only making it cinematic with a clever camera work and actors who deliver subtle un-stagey performances, even though the story is utter silliness. Gilberte (Azema) is a flirtatious society dame in Paris who has successfully hidden her first marriage to the American businessman Eric (Wilson) from her possessive husband Georges (Arditi). Gilberte is pursued by her old friend Faradel (Prevost) while shamelessly seducing the young artist Charley (Lespert), who's pursued by Gilberte's lovestruck young friend Huguette (Tatou). When Eric arrives in Paris to set up a business deal with her husband, Gilberte finally begins to panic. And her airhead sister Arlette (Nanty) won't be much help.
There's a disarming charm to this virtually wordless drama from the distant wilds of Mongolia. It's a tale of two coexisting species, camels and humans, and it's surprisingly fascinating, funny and emotional. And it's fairly guaranteed to be unlike anything you've ever seen. At the end of the birthing season, an extended family of nomadic shepherds in the Gobi Desert gathers to help the last female camel give birth. But it's a very difficult delivery, and she rejects the white colt, leaving it to follow her helplessly around, moaning with hunger. The shepherds try everything to get the mother to reunite with her offspring, eventually sending two young boys (Enkhbulgan and Uuganbaatar) on a long camel ride to a nearby village to get a musician (Lhagvaa) to help them.