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ZU SEHEN AM
Fr, 28.11. - 23.00 Uhr im Thalia
Sa, 29.11. - 23.00 Uhr im
Savoy
Maiquel ist das Beispiel für einen Versager , der
in den heruntergekommenen Vierteln Rios als Verlierer
sein Leben fristet. Als er sich seine Haare blond färbt,
ändert sich alles. Eher zufällig tötet
er den lokalen Gangsterboss und wird zum gefeierten
Helden. Die Nachbarschaft überschüttet ihn
mit Geschenken und die Polizisten bezahlen seine Drinks.
Und das die Freundin des getöteten Gangsters zu
ihm zieht, sieht er auch nicht unbedingt als Nachteil
an. Doch das Leben eines Gangsters ist schwer und schon
bald wird Maiquel unabsichtlich zu einem Killer, dem
nur sein geliebtes Hausschwein Halt gibt.
Ein brillantes und sehr witziges Debüt von Regisseur
José Enrique Fonseca.
>> English
Based on an award–winning novel by Patricia Melo,
"The Man of the Year" is a darkly humorous
but depressingly unmoving depiction of the nasty side
of life in Rio de Janeiro. 20–something Maiquel
is a well–meaning loser until he gets his hair
dyed blonde and shoots dead a local slimeball on the
street. Far from being thrown into jail, however, Maiquel
is showered with gifts, bought drinks by the police
and becomes a local celebrity for rubbing out someone
everybody wanted dead long ago. But then he‘s
tempted into killing again by a group of wealthy men
and, as his relationship with his new wife worsens,
is ultimately installed as the boss of a highly successful
‘security‘ firm responsible for bringing
his own ruthless brand of law and order to the suburban
streets of Brazil‘s capital city.
Filmed by one of Brazil‘s hottest upcoming directors,
Jose Henrique Fonseca, "The Man of the Year"
certainly gets off to a cracking start and boasts a
clutch of strong performances not least from lead actor
Murilo Benicio as the movie‘s nice but dim guy
turned reluctant assassin. Fonseca also displays a nice
line in dry humour as shown in the fate of his hero‘s
pet pig and the wonderfully satanic dentist who successfully
tempts Maiquel into a life of murder and crime. But
the gang‘s demise into drug dealing and death
is all too predictable and, what‘s more, utterly
unaffecting in its sheer inevitability. A brilliantly
ballsy but flawed debut.
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