O Cheiro do Ralo (2006)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Heitor Dhalia

Writers:

Marçal Aquino (writer)
Heitor Dhalia (writer)

Release Date:

23 March 2007 (Brazil)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A pawn shop proprietor buys used goods from desperate locals--as much to play perverse power games as for his own livelihood, but when the perfect rump and a backed-up toilet enter his life, he loses all control. |

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

11 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Selton Mello	...	Lourenço
Paula Braun	...	Garconete
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paulo Alves	...	PM 1
Susana Alves	...	Cadela In Pink
Roberto Audio	...	Homem da Flauta
Flavio Bauraqui	...	Homem da Caixa de Música
Boi	...	Mendigo
Alice Braga	...	Garçonete Dois
Calico	...	Homem da Perna
Jorge Cerruti	...	Homem do Olho de Vidro
Milhem Cortaz	...	Encanador
Wolney de Assis	...	Homem da Caneta
Estevan	...	Homem do Autógrafo
Abrahão Farc	...	Homem dos Soldadinhos
André Frateschi	...	Homem do Vodu
Luciano Gatti	...	Homem do Livro
Waldir Grillo	...	Homem do Ancinho
Fabiana Guglielmetti	...	Noiva
Lorena Lobato	...	Mulher Casada
Sílvia Lourenço	...	Viciada
Fernando Macário	...	Entregador de Pizza
Leonardo Medeiros	...	Jesus Kid
Martha Meola	...	Secretária
Hossein Minussi	...	Encanador
Morelli	...	Homem do Violino
Morgani	...	Homem Abertura
Ariel Moshe	...	Homem das Cédulas
Alvaro Muniz	...	Encanador
Lourenço Mutarelli	...	Segurança
Dionísio Neto	...	Homem dos Discos
Nivaldo	...	Homem da Gaiola
Paulo César Peréio	...	Pai da Noiva (voice)
Zé Pineiro	...	Homem do Revólver
Augusto Pompeo	...	Homem do Faqueiro
Negro Rico	...	PM 2
Xico Sá	...	Homem do Gênio da Garrafa
Mário Schoemberger	...	Homem do Relógio
Gustavo Trestini	...	Tenente
Tobias Vai Vai	...	Caixa da Lanchonete
Pedro Vicente	...	Homem dos Livros
Hugo Villavicenzio	...	Homem do Gramofone

Also Known As:

Drained (International: English title)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

Branca Filmes

Movie Connections:

References À bout de souffle (1960)

a metaphor for Brazil

I felt odd about the movie. I know deep down I both hated it and loved it and I certainly can't stop thinking about it. It really is a sarcastic masterpiece, but very hard to watch. I didn't find it particularly funny in the spots where the audience laughed the most, and often felt horrified. I haven't read the book, which I'm sure is fantastic. Being lucky enough to have lived in Brazil for 7 years in the past, (e sim, eu falo Portuguese), I felt more and more the satiric edge of the main character as a metaphor for the worst things about Brazil lovingly portrayed by a master-- the obsession with the bunda over the female (that scene where he doesn't recognise he is not speaking to his favorite waitress till she turns around was incredible); the buying of worthless, often superstitious items over things really of value (100 rieis for a Stradavarius!?); the man constantly saying, "that smell is not from me, it's the drain;" (that line is especially deep and frightening and I understood it well); him giving all that money for the gun in a scene that looks like robbery; the fake father (leg and eye);his horrible treatment of the weak and helpless and poor; the growing obsession with the smell of his own excrement. I know the movie is a masterpiece-- the trouble is its view of the world through that glass eye is one I, too, would prefer to leave in the next room, perhaps.