Advertising Agency
| O Signo da Cidade (Sign of the City) - Review |
|
|
|
| Written by Shawnta Smith | |
| Monday, 21 July 2008 | |
|
She didn't like it!
Since I was still wiping my tears from the dramatic plot turns, I was seriously overcome with disbelief.
"What about it didn't you like?!" I sort of attacked her with the question. She laughed and pointed to her friend, who chuckled alongside her.
She responded, "Well, what did you like about it?"
Not wanting to influence her response, I blurted out, "Well for one, the diverse character choices and life experiences!" I think it was then that she concluded that neither my girlfriend nor I were Brazilian.
Finally she explained, "It's just that, we're, my friend and I, so used to watching Brazilian tele-novellas, and this was so opposite to that style of Brazilian filmmaking..."
I needed more, so I pried, "and do you assume they were aiming to replicate a tele-novella genre?"
"No!", and that was her point. "It's what we expect. Plainly, it just seemed they took themselves too seriously, it was overdone!"
As if it were a personal offense for her to have left her house to come all the way out to the MOMA for a so-so not so Brazilian film at the Brazilian film festival, I felt bad for her. After telling her that she would have enjoyed Saneamento Basico that was shown the day prior, I bid her adieu and each pair walked our separate ways.
To recap, directed by Carlos Alberto Riccelli with a screenplay by Bruna Lombardi, the leading actor, O Signo da Cidade (Sign of the City) is a web of character's lives, set in a star-filled incandescent version of São Paulo. The lead actor, Teca, is an astrologer and night radio-show host which lays the premise for her random interactions with city dwellers whose lives interweave to a fabric of death, loneliness, despair, and ultimately, finding the paths that lead to personal happiness. With a sense of magic and urgency, Riccelli and Lombardi have sculpted a world where the dichotomies of class, race, and gender morph into fluidity.
Catch it again on July 24th, 2008 at MOMA. 6pm sharp! If for no other reason, to tell me whether my colleague was accurate in her depiction, or me in mine.
Til then, Shawnta Smith
Your
Lesbian Librarian
|
