
Until you turn 30, you have the face God gave you. After that, you have the face you deserve.” The estranged musical comedy that is Gomes’ first feature film seeks to convince its protagonist, Francisco, of that saying/dogma; precisely, during his thirtieth birthday. Or maybe it’s the complete opposite, and that Francisco who dresses up as a cowboy for the school play at the school where he teaches the children he detests, seeks to convince A cara que mereces of the fatality of the little phrase. But Francisco is a trick: he knows he deserves his face and his body because of him being intolerable. And A cara que mereces, hunted hunter, becomes a claustrophobic film that seeks to run away from Francisco using cinephilia as a way of escape; boarding, as Mark Peranson has observed, to the heart of Rivette, to the train (of dreams) of the recent Godard and, finally, to an impossible (but well-deserved) version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
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Tag Archives: portuguese
Os Imortais / The Imortals (2003) António-Pedro Vasconcelos, Joaquim de Almeida, Emmanuelle Seigner, Nicolau Breyner, Action, Crime, Drama

Every year, four ex-soldiers who call themselves “Os Imortais” (“The Immortals”), get together with four women to celebrate their war deeds and remember the old days, back in the war. On the summer of 1985, tired of their monotonous lives, they decide to rob a bank. Joaquim Malarranha, a chief inspector from the local police force who is about to retire, crosses their path and chooses to spend his last days of duty trying to solve the robbery. But as he carries on with his investigation, he discovers more than he could have ever imagined…
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Coisa Ruim / Bad Blood (2006) Tiago Guedes, Frederico Serra, Adriano Luz, Manuela Couto, Sara Carinhas, Horror, Mystery

A well-educated, urban family inherits an old country house located in a small village deep in Portugal’s countryside. Upon their arrival they try to adapt themselves to the new lifestyle, but they soon learn that the village is overshadowed by superstition, religion and mysterious folklore. Strange events soon begin happening and as they learn more about the history of their family, they slowly begin to believe the rumors heard throughout the village: by inheriting the house, they also inherited a curse.
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Quem És Tu? / Who Are You? (2001) João Botelho, Patrícia Guerreiro, Suzana Borges, Rui Morisson, Drama, History

Aged 13, Maria Noronha is an estremely pale and fragil girl, sick with tubercolosis. In order to alleviate her suffering, she gathers poppies from her garden, and at night puts them on the pillows on her bed. But the poppies have a devastating effect. Her deep sleep is disturbed by terrible ghosts and hallucinations: about the decadence of the Portuguese XVII century, the Jesuits’s power and the terrible Inquisition.
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A Dama do Cine Shanghai / The Lady from the Shanghai Cinema (1987) Guilherme de Almeida Prado, Maitê Proença, Antônio Fagundes, José Lewgoy, Crime, Mystery

Real estate broker and former boxer enters an old cinema in the decadent downtown São Paulo and meets an intriguing and mysterious woman, very much alike the leading lady of the film. He gets involved with her and her problems and in no time is being accused of a crime.
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O Bandido da Luz Vermelha / The Red Light Bandit (1968) Rogério Sganzerla, Helena Ignez, Paulo Villaça, Pagano Sobrinho, Crime, Thriller

The story a famous Brazilian criminal, called The Red Light Bandit because he always used a red flashlight to break in the houses during the night. Working alone, he also used to rape his female victims.
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Aldeia da Roupa Branca / The Village of White Clothes (1939) Chianca de Garcia, Beatriz Costa, Manuel Santos Carvalho, José Amaro, Comedy

Gracinda, a young laundry washer, lives with her godfather, “Uncle” Jacinto, and together they run a family business, doing the laundry for residents of Lisbon in their small village in the outskirts of that city (Canecas). Unfortunately, the business is not going very well, but that changes when Gracinda decides to go to the city to try to convince Chico, “Uncle” Jacinto’s son, with whom she is in love, to return to the village and give new life to the business. The village is preparing for the annual festivities and a dispute erupts between “Uncle” Jacinto and his business rival , the widow Quiteria, when each of them invites different bands to play at the same time during the party and dances.
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Virgem Margarida / Virgin Margarida (2012) Licinio Azevedo

1975, Mozambique’s rebirth. The young revolution sweeps the streets of Maputo from prostitutes and bad habits. Read More »
Tráfico / Traffic (1998) João Botelho, Joaquim Oliveira, Rita Blanco, Adriano Luz, Branca de Camargo, Comedy

It all begins when an average family (slightly chilly because they’re forced to take their vacation out of season) is struck by good fortune.
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Os Violentadores de Meninas Virgens / Rapists of Virgin Girls (1983) Salvador Amaral, Francisco Cavalcanti, Suely Conti, Crime, Erotic

A group of wealthy men hire pimp to provide them with virgin girls to rape. they proceed to kill them. One innocent man gets involved when he identifies one of the kidnapers and all hell breaks loose!
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