Vinicius (2005)

Director:

Miguel Faria Jr.

Writers:

Rubem Braga (excerpt)
Miguel Faria Jr. (writer)

Release Date:

11 November 2005 (Brazil)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Music

Plot:

Documentary about Brazilian songwriter and poet Vinicius de Moraes, showing his life, work, family, friends, and love-affairs.

Plot Keywords:

Brazilian | Poet | Songwriter | Composer | Poetry

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Maria Bethânia	...	Herself
Ricardo Blat	...	Poem reader
M.S. Bom	...	Himself
Renato Braz	...	Himself - Singer "Se Todos Fossem Iguais a Você" (voice)
Chico Buarque de Hollanda	...	Himself - Singer 'Medo de Amar' (as Chico Buarque)
Olívia Byington	...	Herself - Singer "Modinha"
Adriana Calcanhoto	...	Herself - Singer "Eu Sei que Vou te Amar"
Antônio Cândido	...	Himself (archive footage)
Elizeth Cardoso	...	Herself - SInger "Eu Não Existo sem Você" (archive footage)
Tônia Carrero	...	Herself
Sérgio Cassiano	...	Himself - singer 'Pau-de-Arara / Comedor de Gilete'
Caco Ciocler	...	Narrator (voice)
Haroldo Costa	...	Himself (archive footage)
Yamandú Costa	...	Himself - Guitar Player "Valsa de Eurídice"
Marpessa Dawn	...	Herself (archive footage)
Georgiana de Moraes	...	Herself
Luciana de Moraes	...	Herself
Maria de Moraes	...	Herself
Mariana de Moraes	...	Herself - Singer 'Coisa Mais Linda'
Susana de Moraes	...	Herself
Vinicius de Moraes	...	Himself (archive footage)
Léa Garcia	...	Herself (archive footage)
João Gilberto	...	Himself - Guitar Player "Eu Não Existo Sem Você" (archive footage)
Gilberto Gil	...	Himself - Singer 'Formosa'
Ferreira Gullar	...	Himself
Francis Hime	...	Himself - Singer 'Sem Mais Adeus'
Nego Jeff	...	Himself
Antonio Carlos Jobim	...	Himself (archive footage)
Nara Leão	...	Herself (archive footage)
Lerov	...	Himself (as Leroy)
Edu Lobo	...	Himself - Singer 'Berimbau'
Carlos Lyra	...	Himself
Ana Maria Magalhães	...	Herself (archive footage)
Mart'nália	...	Herself - Singer 'Sei lá...a Vida tem Sempre Razão'
Miúcha	...	Herself
Pedro Moraes	...	Himself (archive footage)
Camila Morgadão
Camila Morgado	...	Poem reader
Zeca Pagodinho	...	Himself - Singer "Pra Que Chorar"
Pixinguinha	...	Himself (archive footage)
Baden Powell	...	Himself (archive footage)
Márcia Rodrigues	...	Herself (archive footage)
Mônica Salmaso	...	Herself
Toquinho	...	Himself - Singer 'Tarde em Itapoã'
Caetano Veloso	...	Himself - Singer 'Poema dos Olhos da Amada'
Carlinhos Vergueiro	...	Himself

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

Spain | Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:10 | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Company:

1001 Filmes

Trivia:

There are excerpts of the films "Vinicius de Moraes, Um Rapaz de Família" (Susana de Moraes, 1979), "Les Carnets Brésiliens" (Pierre Kast, 1963), "Pista de Grama" (Haroldo Costa, 1958)

Wonderful movie, but kind of "lost in translation"

I've just watched "Vinicius" this weekend, during the Miami Film Festival and, being fluent on both Portuguese and English, I couldn't help but feel sorry for people who had to rely exclusively on the English subtitles to understand what was being said and sung.

A lot of the more subtle messages and word play of Vinicius poetry and lyrics were obscured by translation, but that would be understandable, almost expected... after all, movie subtitles hardly ever receive the attention a book or poem collection does. What's not understandable, though, is that too many of even the most trivial comments got warped beyond recognition - and I'm not talking here about the never-ending debate about "literal" and "non-literal" translation, or about the reading time constraints specific to subtitles.

One very simple - but very telling - example can be seen in the confusion between "sow" and "sew", when one of the guests is saying Vinicius sowed ("semeou", Portuguese for sowing seeds) the Brazilian culture with this special style, and the subtitles said he "sew" ("costurou", like with needle and thread) the Brazilian culture, or something to that effect. Sincerely, I can't imagine those subtitles were written - or at least reviewed - by a native English speaker.

Certainly this is not the first movie I see that shows that kind of problem, since the neglecting of subtitled translations is nothing new. One early Brazilian version of Blade Runner comes to mind, specifically the scene where android Roy Batty calls Tyrell "father" right before killing him - the caption said something like "Seu f.d.p.", literally "You s.o.b." which means the Brazilian translator understood - and translated - "fu**er", not "father", thus changing completely the significance of a dramatic moment, stripping it of its duality.

Now, considering the time and effort (oh, yes... and the money, too) that is spent on making a movie, would it be too much to ask they get a translator that is good enough to make sure its message doesn't get totally mangled?

"Vinicius" is a wonderful movie, deserved correctly translated subtitles... So the movie is a 10, but the subtitling is a sore 5, at best.