O Signo da Cidade (2007)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Carlos Alberto Riccelli

Writer:

Bruna Lombardi (writer)

Release Date:

25 January 2008 (Brazil)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

While stars and planets move through the sky of São Paulo, randomly shooting their magic, men and women...

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Bruna Lombardi	...	Teca
Malvino Salvador	...	Gil
Juca de Oliveira	...	Aníbal
Graziela Moretto	...	Mônica
Luis Miranda	...	Sombra
Denise Fraga	...	Lydia
Eva Wilma	...	Adélia
Fernando Alves Pinto	...	Devanir
Sidney Santiago	...	Josi
Kim Riccelli	...	Gabriel
Laís Marques	...	Júlia
Bethito Tavares	...	Biô
Thiago Pinheiro	...	Luís
Rogério Brito	...	Oriovaldo
Cristina Mutarelli	...	Hilda

Also Known As:

The Sign of the City (International: English title)

Runtime:

Brazil:95 min

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

São Paulo, Brazil

Company:

Pulsar Cinema

Fate Is Unique Like Fingerprints

In the cold São Paulo, the astrologist Teca (Bruna Lombardi) presents a late night show in the radio, with the support of her friend Mônica (Graziela Moretto) and the gay Biô (Bethito Tavares). Her anonymous listeners share their concerns, hopes, loves, despairs, seeking her astrological advice. Her father Aníbal (Juca de Oliveira), who left her mother when she was eleven year-old, is terminal in a hospital, but her stepmother Adèlia (Eva Wilma) refuses to visit him. Teca has some interest in her just-moved next-door neighbor Gil (Malvino Salvador), who has a marriage in crisis with his wife Lydia (Denise Fraga). During a robbery on the street, Marisa meets the travel agent Devanir (Fernando Alves Pinto), they have a love affair and he invites her to travel to Cancun with him. When the depressed client of Teca, Luis (Thiago Pinheiro), commits suicide jumping from her window, Teca seeks out his girlfriend Júlia (Laís Marques) that is ill, left in a low-budget hotel after a provoked abortion. Teca calls a friend that brings the nurse Sombra (Luis Miranda) and, while she heals, Teca lives her personal dramas being sympathetic with her listeners.

The melancholic "O Signo da Cidade" is a kind of tribute to the lonely people in a big city, whose lives are snooped and entwined through the radio show of Teca, who is needy after the end of her marriage and has also her personal problems. The well-written screenplay is complex and cold, like São Paulo is, and is based on the idea that fate is unique like fingerprints. This movie has a great direction of Carlos Alberto Riccelli and magnificent performances of the cast.The soundtrack is very beautiful. I am glad to see that the great actress Bruna Lombardi is still a very beautiful woman, in spite of her age, and also an excellent writer. I like this type of story that follows the style of Robert Altman, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Paul Haggis, just to mention a few other filmmakers, with many characters and entwined situations. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Signo da Cidade" ("The Sign of the City")