My short comment for this flick is go pick it up. Chances are you are going to be positively surprised by a diversity of elements superbly explored in this criminal thriller. There is no way the character of Miklos, claiming and pushing for room in every way possible, wont push your nerves to the edge...2 thumbs up!
12 Reviews
Cruel but truthful film about a sad reality
mario_c19 March 2008
IVAN (Marco Ricca) and GILBERTO (Alexandre Borges) are partners in a company together with ESTEVÃO (George Freire), but the first ones contract a professional killer, ANISIO, to murder ESTEVÃO (the plot, at least at the beginning, doesn't explain very well why). The guy does it and after receiving his money he starts blackmailing the two partners, appearing in their company and saying he wants a job there (as supervisor or something
). At the same time he meets MARINA (Mariana Ximenes), daughter of ESTEVÃO, and starts dating with her!
In a story like this, where crime, corruption, betrayal and blackmail go hand in hand, no one is innocent or can be victimized, exception made to MARINA, which is the only person who doesn't know what's going on and didn't betray anyone
This film portrays with sarcasm the sad and cruel reality which exists in big metropolis like São Paulo, where crime is every day's presence. We can feel irony but also veracity in characters like ANISIO (brilliantly played by Paulo Miklos), which does blackmail to the guys who paid him without any scruples, and even flirts with the daughter of the guy he killed! He really must be a monster to do something like that, but of course I know there're people like him out there, in Brazil or any other place
It's a very good movie, cruel but truthful, about a sad reality The acting is great and the soundtrack too.
In a story like this, where crime, corruption, betrayal and blackmail go hand in hand, no one is innocent or can be victimized, exception made to MARINA, which is the only person who doesn't know what's going on and didn't betray anyone
This film portrays with sarcasm the sad and cruel reality which exists in big metropolis like São Paulo, where crime is every day's presence. We can feel irony but also veracity in characters like ANISIO (brilliantly played by Paulo Miklos), which does blackmail to the guys who paid him without any scruples, and even flirts with the daughter of the guy he killed! He really must be a monster to do something like that, but of course I know there're people like him out there, in Brazil or any other place
It's a very good movie, cruel but truthful, about a sad reality The acting is great and the soundtrack too.
O invasor
EdgarST22 December 2003
One can say almost the same things about this Brazilian movie, which won a top prize in the Sundance festival, that have been said about "City of God": both have received a sort of Hollywood treatment. But this one, though, has a sense of humor almost absent in "City of God", and to my knowledge it's one of the few Latin American movies that depict the attraction of some girls of the middle and high classes to the hip hop culture, and the young men of lower classes. In Panama, for example, fed up with the lack of authenticity and the false values of their milieus, the young women are attracted to the exciting and often violent events they experience alongside their urban anti-heroes. In spite of its formulaic structure and ending, it's an ironic, funny movie not to be missed.
Rough little drama but still enjoyable
bob the moo27 February 2004
When their business partner's ethics prevent their company for working on jobs that may be slightly corrupt, Giba and Ivan decide to have him killed. They are recommended to approach a lowlife hitman, Anisio, who takes the job, killing the partner and his wife. However after the job is done Anisio begins to integrate himself in to the company and the lives of Ivan and Giba. This only accelerates Ivan's descent into panic and guilt.
With comparisons to the wonderful City Of God, I decided to give this film a shot and found it to be a very different beast to the aforementioned film, smaller, not as good but still an enjoyable film coming from Brazil. The plot is not perfect; I found it slightly difficult to accept Anisio sudden interest in this company in particular when he likely came into contact with many rich clients before. I imagine that there is a certain comment about the status of Brazil, where the few good people with money are gradually corrupted or invested by those willing to bend rules and take advantage. If this was the aim, it wasn't totally successful as it damaged the central narrative a little bit. Aside from this, the film still works, not so much as a thriller but as a drama as Ivan falls into guilt over his actions - again the attempts to make social comment is worthy but it moves the film away from dramatics by a few degrees.
The cast are pretty good. I felt that Miklos gave a good performance as the hired killer. He seemed quite natural and at ease - even if I hated it when the soundtrack used his band's awful thrash metal music. He was coached by rapper Sabotage, who also has a small role but was killed shortly after the film was released. Ricca descends well in his role and makes it convincing, Borges is suitably seedy and represents the worst of the wealthy class in Brazil I guess. Ximenes role in both the film and the subtext was less clear; her main purpose seemed to be titillation, which, in fairness, she delivered well!
Overall this film works well because it tries to be more than just a drama and more than just a social comment; however it would be too forgiving of me if I didn't note that it did rather fall between these two stools. Despite missing it's mark, it is still a good shot at the target. The direction and writing are both good and they bring about a film that, although flawed, is still interesting and involving even if these aspects are ahead of it's ability to be dramatic or thrilling.
With comparisons to the wonderful City Of God, I decided to give this film a shot and found it to be a very different beast to the aforementioned film, smaller, not as good but still an enjoyable film coming from Brazil. The plot is not perfect; I found it slightly difficult to accept Anisio sudden interest in this company in particular when he likely came into contact with many rich clients before. I imagine that there is a certain comment about the status of Brazil, where the few good people with money are gradually corrupted or invested by those willing to bend rules and take advantage. If this was the aim, it wasn't totally successful as it damaged the central narrative a little bit. Aside from this, the film still works, not so much as a thriller but as a drama as Ivan falls into guilt over his actions - again the attempts to make social comment is worthy but it moves the film away from dramatics by a few degrees.
The cast are pretty good. I felt that Miklos gave a good performance as the hired killer. He seemed quite natural and at ease - even if I hated it when the soundtrack used his band's awful thrash metal music. He was coached by rapper Sabotage, who also has a small role but was killed shortly after the film was released. Ricca descends well in his role and makes it convincing, Borges is suitably seedy and represents the worst of the wealthy class in Brazil I guess. Ximenes role in both the film and the subtext was less clear; her main purpose seemed to be titillation, which, in fairness, she delivered well!
Overall this film works well because it tries to be more than just a drama and more than just a social comment; however it would be too forgiving of me if I didn't note that it did rather fall between these two stools. Despite missing it's mark, it is still a good shot at the target. The direction and writing are both good and they bring about a film that, although flawed, is still interesting and involving even if these aspects are ahead of it's ability to be dramatic or thrilling.
Nice thriller...
rainking_es4 May 2007
Sao Paulo is such a subhuman city where the life of a man is quite cheap. This movie deals with the fight between two businessmen to control their company. They'll get into a spiral of murder and contacts with the local mafia of Sao Paulo's lower depths.
"El Invasor" moves between thriller and drama, and has some sequences that are really intense. Although the narrative style is quite debatable the history will get you, because everything in the screen is so frenzy and reckless.
It won't change the history of modern cinema, but it's better than most of the thrillers made in Hollywood these days.
*My rate: 6.5/10
"El Invasor" moves between thriller and drama, and has some sequences that are really intense. Although the narrative style is quite debatable the history will get you, because everything in the screen is so frenzy and reckless.
It won't change the history of modern cinema, but it's better than most of the thrillers made in Hollywood these days.
*My rate: 6.5/10
Tense social thriller where everything goes wrong and ´wrong´comes knocking at your door
cinemascopio20 February 2002
Extremely tense thriller set in the urban chaos of São Paulo, the biggest and ugliest third world nightmare in Brazilian urbania. For the sake of making it easy for anyone who is curious about this intriguing and truly well made film, it has the grit of Mexican feature "Amores Perros" with a character not too far off Max Cady, from both Cape Fears, although this is not, by any means, a film about a psychopath. Two partners (Alexandre Borges and Marco Ricca) in a construction company pay hitman Anisio (Miklos) to off their third partner (and majority share holder) in said construction outfit. The murder is blamed on the city, but things begin to look very grim indeed when witty and charismatic walking nightmare Anisio decides he wants to be around the ever so nervous partners in crime, not only trespassing but, more importantly, deconstructing the strict social codes that make up Brazilian society. Anisio turns poverty into an attitude and he wants in. The look is almost entirely handheld, grainy, the performances outstanding throughout, especially so as first time actor (and member of classic Brazilian pop band 'Titãs'), Paulo Miklos, dazzles and baffles the viewer with his pretty funny social terror.
I saw the film at the Brasília film Fest in November 2001. It has since done very well in Sundance and Berlin. Kleber Mendonça Filho
I saw the film at the Brasília film Fest in November 2001. It has since done very well in Sundance and Berlin. Kleber Mendonça Filho
Great Performances, Disturbing Story
Jose Guilherme8 August 2002
The three main characters are very well portrayed, especially Anisio by rock musician turned into first time actor Paulo Miklos. He is extremely convincing as the lower class trespasser/invader. The film shows very well the snowball effect of getting involved in ever more shady business, the contrast and similarities between the lower and higher classes. How everyone gets carried away by greed and ambition. 9-9,5 out of 10.
A Rare Good Brazilian Film
HAL19941 December 2002
Here in Brazil is very rare to see a good Brazilian film, and Brant´s new film is exactly one of these jewel. There are some flaws in the film, of course, but they are very minimal. The directing and acting in this film are very good!
Can´t wait to see another Brant´s new film!
Can´t wait to see another Brant´s new film!
This movie is dreadful and pointless
rickyr8323 September 2006
I picked up this movie because I love Brazilian cinema and I am always on the lookout for good, new Brazilian movies. I read the reviews on this movie, with people raving about striking the film was and comparing it to "Cidade de Deus". In addition to that, looking at the film festival awards it won, I thought I'd made a good choice. Boy, did I turn out to be wrong.
This film is an unorganized, dysfunctional, fruitless mess. The story had potential. The idea of two men hiring a hit-man to take out their partner and then that hit-man turning around and forcing himself into their business, could've been interesting. It could've been played in a comedic way, or it could've been played in a threatening and frightening way.
Instead, the movie tries a little of both and succeeds at neither. At times the movie presents Miklos' character as someone who we should fear, other times he's seen as a joke, heckling the construction company's workers and bringing rappers into the office.
The only bright spot is that some of these actors give good performances. Marco Ricca as Ivan gives a great portrait of a man consumed by fear and guilt and we watch him spiral out of control. Although again, the movie flubs up his character, introducing us to his wife in the beginning, only to never show her again or really explain their marriage or why their relationship is so distant.
This film is an unorganized, dysfunctional, fruitless mess. The story had potential. The idea of two men hiring a hit-man to take out their partner and then that hit-man turning around and forcing himself into their business, could've been interesting. It could've been played in a comedic way, or it could've been played in a threatening and frightening way.
Instead, the movie tries a little of both and succeeds at neither. At times the movie presents Miklos' character as someone who we should fear, other times he's seen as a joke, heckling the construction company's workers and bringing rappers into the office.
The only bright spot is that some of these actors give good performances. Marco Ricca as Ivan gives a great portrait of a man consumed by fear and guilt and we watch him spiral out of control. Although again, the movie flubs up his character, introducing us to his wife in the beginning, only to never show her again or really explain their marriage or why their relationship is so distant.
Strangely Overrated
Rodrigo_Amaro16 July 2022
"O Invasor" is a clear case of an overrated picture and I don't use that word lightly or all that frequently. Decades of hearing about this
movie only made me aprehensive and cautious about wanting to see it and when I finally did, I was shocked and amazingly disappointing with it since I got
nothing from the experience. Through the years I kept hearing about its "importance", the many awards given to it, the countless highlights about the film's
soundtrack, acting, specially from newcomers Sabotagem and Titãs frontman Paulo Miklos, so many great things were said about this film and then...I probably
missed something.
Beto Brant's film doesn't show us anything new. The story of two contractors (Marco Ricca and Alexandre Borges) who call up the services of a hired gun (Miklos, amazing!) to eliminate a third partner in their company in order to approve some big project of which we don't exactly how profitable it can be for them. All is done, the man gets killed with his wife but the killer doesn't leave the guys alone: he wants to work for the company in whatever they do and little by little he gets immersed in their lives, the company's work and also begins a relationship with the young daughter (Mariana Ximenes) of the deceased taking her into wild parties. It gets insanely weird when one of the business partners decide to kill the other and paranoia sets in within this group of people, that also brings a random lover (Malu Mader) to one of them.
What could be an accessible story with dark humor and some minor twists is turned into an incoherent mess that doesn't keep the audience engaged, most of the time we are lost in how Brant and his writers presents things (which includes the book's author Marçal Aquino, adaptating his own project even though he didn't even had an ending for the book so he improvised for the movie THEN finished the novel). Many things are not explained, the tension doesn't build in the way it is expected - I was hoping for the Miklos character to go insane each moment went by but instead is the insecure character played by Ricca who ends up in a journey of self-loathing and confusion when he finally gets a gun. Why bothering in using realistic elements if nothing will ring true when things start to unfold? If the idea was to create a chaotic scenario with this intruder guy ruining everyone's lives at least some form of humor could be brought on and let the danger appear with frequency.
It's not 100% wrong but there were times when I thought nothing had salvation in this thing. But there's some good and memorable things here. The real invader, outsider of this movie was the perfect choice for the title role. Paulo Miklos was the best choice for Anisio, the odd man in control of everything.
He is quirky, strange, menacing and he always appear when he's not expected. One could give to this role to any established actor out there and it would be just another fine performance, but having a non-actor capturing your attention with just his presence and a deadly look in his eyes, then you have something special (even though in one quick shot he looks at the camera, surprised to be in the shot and I wonder why Brant left the scene with this goof). Miklos scenes with Mariana are among the best, even though I don't buy much of their relationship and how it develops. Bottom of line, the acting is all good but the movie is so erratic and confusing that the experience is already ruined.
What's so great and so important about "O Invasor"? I don't know. I didn't find anything. There's not a worth seeing story here, nothing is new here, and there wasn't even a decent conclusion to atest we actually had seen something outstanding. Trust me, there are countless of better crime dramas out there, and countless better Brazilian films out there. This is not one of them. 4/10.
Beto Brant's film doesn't show us anything new. The story of two contractors (Marco Ricca and Alexandre Borges) who call up the services of a hired gun (Miklos, amazing!) to eliminate a third partner in their company in order to approve some big project of which we don't exactly how profitable it can be for them. All is done, the man gets killed with his wife but the killer doesn't leave the guys alone: he wants to work for the company in whatever they do and little by little he gets immersed in their lives, the company's work and also begins a relationship with the young daughter (Mariana Ximenes) of the deceased taking her into wild parties. It gets insanely weird when one of the business partners decide to kill the other and paranoia sets in within this group of people, that also brings a random lover (Malu Mader) to one of them.
What could be an accessible story with dark humor and some minor twists is turned into an incoherent mess that doesn't keep the audience engaged, most of the time we are lost in how Brant and his writers presents things (which includes the book's author Marçal Aquino, adaptating his own project even though he didn't even had an ending for the book so he improvised for the movie THEN finished the novel). Many things are not explained, the tension doesn't build in the way it is expected - I was hoping for the Miklos character to go insane each moment went by but instead is the insecure character played by Ricca who ends up in a journey of self-loathing and confusion when he finally gets a gun. Why bothering in using realistic elements if nothing will ring true when things start to unfold? If the idea was to create a chaotic scenario with this intruder guy ruining everyone's lives at least some form of humor could be brought on and let the danger appear with frequency.
It's not 100% wrong but there were times when I thought nothing had salvation in this thing. But there's some good and memorable things here. The real invader, outsider of this movie was the perfect choice for the title role. Paulo Miklos was the best choice for Anisio, the odd man in control of everything.
He is quirky, strange, menacing and he always appear when he's not expected. One could give to this role to any established actor out there and it would be just another fine performance, but having a non-actor capturing your attention with just his presence and a deadly look in his eyes, then you have something special (even though in one quick shot he looks at the camera, surprised to be in the shot and I wonder why Brant left the scene with this goof). Miklos scenes with Mariana are among the best, even though I don't buy much of their relationship and how it develops. Bottom of line, the acting is all good but the movie is so erratic and confusing that the experience is already ruined.
What's so great and so important about "O Invasor"? I don't know. I didn't find anything. There's not a worth seeing story here, nothing is new here, and there wasn't even a decent conclusion to atest we actually had seen something outstanding. Trust me, there are countless of better crime dramas out there, and countless better Brazilian films out there. This is not one of them. 4/10.
Good idea, poorly executed
Freethinker_Atheist15 August 2014
Warning: Spoilers
When I first saw this movie, I actually liked it. Many years later, I decided to watch it again. Since I had forgotten all the details, it was like now watching it for the first time. Maybe I changed as a person and my taste improved, because this time I really didn't like this movie.
*** Only minor spoilers ***
It became visible to me, how amateurish it feels: the shaky camera, poor lighting, over the top acting, etc. Some actors clearly don't know what to do, so it's obvious they are somehow improvising. Some shots are too long, like at the end, when Ivan is running on the street in the night. He looks back and forth, then down, then up, then back and forth and down and up again, because what else could he do? In one scene, the hit-man even looks into the camera by mistake. He clearly wasn't sure he was in the picture. Many scenes are completely obsolete and add nothing to the story, like the parallel story with the dumb rich girl on the periphery and in the bars, having orgiastic sex, clearly made to satisfy the cheap taste for sex scenes of many viewers and to stretch out the story to a full length film.
Watchable, but nothing special.
*** Only minor spoilers ***
It became visible to me, how amateurish it feels: the shaky camera, poor lighting, over the top acting, etc. Some actors clearly don't know what to do, so it's obvious they are somehow improvising. Some shots are too long, like at the end, when Ivan is running on the street in the night. He looks back and forth, then down, then up, then back and forth and down and up again, because what else could he do? In one scene, the hit-man even looks into the camera by mistake. He clearly wasn't sure he was in the picture. Many scenes are completely obsolete and add nothing to the story, like the parallel story with the dumb rich girl on the periphery and in the bars, having orgiastic sex, clearly made to satisfy the cheap taste for sex scenes of many viewers and to stretch out the story to a full length film.
Watchable, but nothing special.
Great
clickstop11 October 2002
This plot had me guessing all the way to the end, and what an ending !
I was especially struck by the apt depiction of a corrupt and dangerous underworld, Anisio's very convincing performance as a threatening unscrupulous monster from the ghetto, and how alien his attitude was to the mannerly and typically ordered behaviour of the businessmen who's lives he becomes entangled with.
I enjoyed being made uncomfortable by the idea that this order (the boring business world) can be turned upside down by a character like Anisio who doesn't realise or care about any rules or etiquette, and like a vampire once invited over the threshold, has the power to do what he wants. An obvious theme is the retribution summed up by the cliche 'those who live by the sword die by the sword', or in other words if you dabble in crime a criminal end awaits you.
I was especially struck by the apt depiction of a corrupt and dangerous underworld, Anisio's very convincing performance as a threatening unscrupulous monster from the ghetto, and how alien his attitude was to the mannerly and typically ordered behaviour of the businessmen who's lives he becomes entangled with.
I enjoyed being made uncomfortable by the idea that this order (the boring business world) can be turned upside down by a character like Anisio who doesn't realise or care about any rules or etiquette, and like a vampire once invited over the threshold, has the power to do what he wants. An obvious theme is the retribution summed up by the cliche 'those who live by the sword die by the sword', or in other words if you dabble in crime a criminal end awaits you.
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