As the film starts we see a close-up of the main character ready to go to jail with someone reading a list of his crimes and summing up what type of individual he is. It's a promising set-up but unfortunately we learn very little after that until the end credits start to roll and we read of a few more things about him. Story starts out in 1932 where we see Joao Francisco dos Santos (Lazaro Ramos) who lives in the slums of Brazil and is often in trouble with the law. Joao is a gay man who shares his residence with a prostitute named Laurita (Marcelia Cartaxo) and her child and a very effeminate gay male named Tabu (Flavio Bauraqui) and together they spend time hustling their customers and hanging out in sleazy bars and cabarets.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** Joao is very volatile and consistently mistreats everyone around him to the point that he loses his job as an assistant to a European cabaret singer. But Joao can also fight very well and when a drunken jerk pulls a gun on him he manages to beat him severely and keep the gun. After a stint in jail he talks the owner of a local club to give him the opportunity to do a drag show which he does very successfully but one night a drunken onlooker assaults him to the point where Joao retrieves the gun that he has kept and kills the man in cold blood.
This is the directorial debut of Karim Ainouz who does a commendable job of creating an effectively sleazy atmosphere and giving his film a true distinct look but the main problems lie with the script and the lack of information that is given about the characters. This is based on a true story and a real person but we learn very little about the character Joao except that he was a very angry man who was very hostile and violent to everyone he came in contact with. At the end of the film we learn that Joao was to become a very successful drag queen and a mini celebrity but also someone that would spend about 30 of his years in and out of jail and being guilty of about 10 murders! We never see any of that but if we did it may have helped lend some insight on the characters and for me to comment on this film more favorably.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** Joao is very volatile and consistently mistreats everyone around him to the point that he loses his job as an assistant to a European cabaret singer. But Joao can also fight very well and when a drunken jerk pulls a gun on him he manages to beat him severely and keep the gun. After a stint in jail he talks the owner of a local club to give him the opportunity to do a drag show which he does very successfully but one night a drunken onlooker assaults him to the point where Joao retrieves the gun that he has kept and kills the man in cold blood.
This is the directorial debut of Karim Ainouz who does a commendable job of creating an effectively sleazy atmosphere and giving his film a true distinct look but the main problems lie with the script and the lack of information that is given about the characters. This is based on a true story and a real person but we learn very little about the character Joao except that he was a very angry man who was very hostile and violent to everyone he came in contact with. At the end of the film we learn that Joao was to become a very successful drag queen and a mini celebrity but also someone that would spend about 30 of his years in and out of jail and being guilty of about 10 murders! We never see any of that but if we did it may have helped lend some insight on the characters and for me to comment on this film more favorably.