Way better than usual thanks for Eduardo Coutinho's retro. Coutinho is one of my
favorite filmmakers current working, so it's great to hear his getting a retro
in NY. Coutinho is a unusual documentary filmmaker in so far as his work is a
method more than an actual a subject, all but the earliest (A Man Labeled to
Die) and his most recent (Moscow) are talking heads docs in which Coutinho, who
is a great talker, interviews people who have being previously interviewed by a
reserach tean, so both parties are already somewhat aware of both questions and
answers which highlights how much people are usually given a performance for his
camera. His more recent work has being much more meta abou that (Playing mixes
the actual interviews with staged versions of the same interviews, Moscow has
him hiring a theatrical group to rehearse Chekov's Three Sisters with a stege
director of their choosing for three weeks). I'd reccomend all 8 films except
Babilonia 2000 (which is good bu t by far
his least interesting work), but if one has to choose just a few I'd say go
for A Man Labeled to Die, Master, Playing and Moscow.

Except for the Coutinho films, I like Should Nothing Else Work Out, like most of
Jose Eduardo Belmonte's films it's uneven, but the highs are worth it. December
is an annoyng Cassavetes/Martel pastiche that has some fans around here, some
friens of mine think the laziness in Youth's direction is charming and That's It
(which I haven't seen yet) got some positive reviews but I suspect the writers
are more interested in the director being 19 year old than the actual movie.
Also, avoid Bruno Barreto latest crime against cinema at all costs.

Filipe

Em 20/06/2009 11:34, Dan Sallitt < sallitt@... > escreveu:








I wonder if I may trouble our Brazilian contingent once again to post any
comments on MOMA's annual series of new Brazilian films:

http://press.moma.org/images/press/premierebrazil/PremiereBrazil09RELEASE_FINAL.\
pdf

or:

http://moma.org/visit/calendar/films/978

Thanks, as always. - Dan