Cama de Gato

Cama De Gato (Cat's Cradle) is the best Brazilian film I've seen in the last 10 years. It's very deep and still very funny, like the Brazilian society is, with all it's problems but still a great country with great people, but probably the worst politicians on earth. Cama De Gato does not try to show the things differently as they are in reality, it makes philosophy with the ordinary life of three young upper middle class teenagers that get into big troubles just because they were looking for a "bit of fun"... Very impressive and important film to understand a little more about this very complex society. Simply the best. I'm very interested in Alexandre Stockler's next project.

Cama de Gato (2002), is a proper shoestring indie movie set in Sao Paulo. First time (film) writer-director Alexandre Stockler created a script by exaggerating a number of real life events which occurred in Sao Paulo into a complex moral dilemma for three upper-middle class teens, which plays out over a number of hours on one evening. Though some of the cinematic effects are questionable and does not contribute to the atmosphere, storyline or artistic effect, the different subjective flashbacks which each teen had of the event which led to the start of the moral dilemma worked pretty well. As such the core story and the nihilistic message is conveyed powerfully. The impact of the class differential on the morality of actions is fortunately only touched upon lightly (though in act 1 it appeared as a principal theme to be explored). Stockler's T. R. A. U. M. A '99 manifesto (basically an ironic response to Von Tier & Kie' s Dogme 95 manifesto) is mostly likely the driving force behind the overpaying of class disparacy in a somewhat disjointed manner. This is said as the teens react in a manner in which teens likely could act when met with such events, ie try to get rid of the evidence and hope the entire mess goes away. True to the title, the film is a cats cradle (made through the currency of the film). Directing and scripting was exceptional, especially on an estimated budget of $ 5000. The use of certain music worked okay to convey a satirical effect to the horror of the events but it also had a bit of a slapstick feel. Cinematography was decent enough, even if regard is not had to the limited budget. As with all low budget indie movies, the acting was a mixed bag of really good and really pretty bad. Overall despite many shortcomings , the film worked really well. 7/10.

This middle-class denoucement farce is a dangerous movie that falls into the entrapment category. It is about terrible, vile and sickening things - as life is sometimes - and it is presented in such a format of those objectionable things it's difficult to understand where the criticism begins or a possible plausible for it to exist. Alexandre Boury's film is said to be composed in the same way as the Dogma manifesto though interpreted on a Brazilian way of settings and schemes - hence why the below B film kind of cinematographic style. It's too pretentious to be that since the quality standards of almost everything, from editing to acting and story fails spectacularly bad despite good thrillings, a frightening humor that isn't there and the pretension of making a powerfully shocking statement about a class of degenerates. Yet the movie proves its point by presenting real interviews with non-viewers of the film who are the possible threat to society.

It can't be said that "Cama de Gato" is totally flawed because the director created a perfect rollercoaster of emotions and thrills for the characters, you're glued to the screen and wanna know how it all ends. I shall wash, but I shan't be cleaned and I never thought a film could make me feel so bad when the credits rolled (and you have to see it up until the very last minute). This "Very Bad Things" (1998) experience revolves a trio of young clueless teens highly opinionated about their own reality who are confronted with a serious of troubles and crimes simply because they wanted to have fun. Rape, murder, accidental deaths, total disregard for ethics and the lives of others is what comes to them. It's all brutal, shocking and unappealing (but violence finds its way to entertain viewers out there, despite things being played out sickening, dumb and ridiculous as if it's wanting for exciting laughs from a dark humored comedy). To be fair, the only laugh the film gets is thanks to its amazing amateur quality with everything presented; but with such strong themes of violence and social alienation the film gets too dark to be seen in a light way. It's not funny, neither satirical.

Early 2000's and the whole talk about the internet visibility and mass appeal is slightly ahead of time (those are the most curious scenes from the opening bits since it's a weird journey to the past days of the web, so awkward for those who lived it. A time before the accessive social platforms of today). It's in this context of affortunate yet bored teens the film gets its idea of a youth that celebrates wrongdoings because the system is all wrong to them; a generation entitled to everything except dealing with consequences and duties. It's all about drugs, drinks, parties and non-consexual activity we see with the characters, and from real opinions given by that parcel of society. So, the film is a thesis about a reality, it's real up to a certain extent.

I understand the bad reputation it gets though I'm not all favorable to it. "Cama de Gato" is an experience to be felt, the director tries, succeeds and fails with such an intensity that it's easy to get confused about everything. The pace is excellent but the story fails to deliver credibility or sense of a total realism since it forces everything down the viewers throat. While the actors fully undress on scene; the soundtrack coming from the moment and not created for it - all is well, but when you have the characters breaking the 4th wall addressing to us as if we were part of their discussions it all goes wrong. Add to that repetitive lines that are echoed not just in sound, they're played out several times from different angles as if mixing bloopers with the good take. Lame exercise.

Had it not been for the Dogma-like thing and with some adjustments this film could be saved in spite of the objectionable morals and story.

Time to talk about what brings attention and audiences to this film and that's the most famous of all names associated with the picture: Caio Blat. One of the lead stars, a spectacular actor who amazes us each performance goes by in anything...except this very movie. It's unbelievably strange that he had to reduce himself to such a low-production that for a time you can't recognise him anymore (expression, delivery of lines, it's so awkward). On a bright note, he dares audiences for pushing the envelope for his craft in ways that no Hollywood major stars could ever do, and while an infamous film on its own to the point it looks like as a career killer (Cainan Baladez only made this film) it didn't do any damage to him. Blat only got better from here.

It's an almost watchable thing that will make you fuzzy and mixed after the whole rush. I don't oppose its themes or justifications since many directors had walked on those issues: Pasolini, Larry Clark, Von Trier, Van Sant and more. What I do oppose is the way one deals with those issues, the way they are presented (here without style and or substance); and on a lower scale, a validation of those "heroes" because that's where the danger begins to the point sore excuses of beings endorse everything that's presented because you're spoon feeding audiences rather than making a critical thinking. The final acted sequence is unforgettanly absurd and goes beyond reasoning. 5/10.

Though I'd heard that "Cama de Gato" was the worst Brazilian movie of the decade, I watched it giving it a chance; after all, first-time director/producer/writer Alexandre Stockler managed to make his debut feature (shot in video) for just US$ 4,000 and -- though it looks even cheaper -- I can't begin to imagine all he went through to finally get it exhibited in theaters with no big sponsors or production companies behind it (then as I watched it I realized why). But whatever chances you're ready to give to "Cama de Gato", they shrink to zero within 10 minutes: it's an unbelievably preposterous, verbose, ideologically fanatical and technically catastrophic attempt to portray Brazilian upper-middle class youth as a bunch of spoiled neo-Nazis hooked on bad sex, drugs and violence (and they're made to look like closeted gays too), made with no visible trace of talent, imagination, expertise or notion of structure. Visually and aurally, it recalls the worst amateur stuff you can find on YouTube -- only here it lasts NINETY TWO (count'em) minutes of unrelenting hysteria and clumsiness, and it's not even funny-bad.

We've all seen the story before: bored young guys want to have fun, go partying, take drugs and everything goes wrong -- there's gang-rape, spanking, murder, the accidental death (falling down the staircase!!) of the mother of one of the boys, culminating with the boys deciding to burn the corpses of the girl and the mother in a garbage landfill. Moral and literal garbage, get it? The film is heavily influenced by Larry Clark (especially "Kids" and "Bully"), but Clark's films -- though also moralist and sexploitative -- are high-class masterworks compared to this crap.

I don't think there was ever such monomaniacal drive in a filmmaker to stick his ideas down the audience's throat: Stockler grabs us by the collar and tries to force his non-stop moralist rant into our brains by repetition and exhaustion -- you DO get numb-minded with so much babbling, yelling, inept direction, shaky camera and terrible acting going on. Stockler doesn't care a bit about technique (the quality of the images, framing, sound recording, soundtrack songs, dialog, sets, editing, etc is uniformly appalling), but he's a narcissistic control-freak: he anticipates the criticisms he's bound to get by adding subtitles with smartie/cutie comments, and by making the protagonists comment at one point how far-fetched and phony it all is (I could relate to THAT).

Despite his megalomaniac ambitions, Stockler seems incapable of giving us a minimum of visual or narrative structure -- he can't even decide if he wants gritty realism (hand-held video camera etc) or stylization (repetition of scenes, use of alternate takes, etc). Damn, he can't even decide WHERE to put his camera (there's use of subjective camera for the THREE leads)! The dialog features some of the most stupefyingly banal verbosity ever; the plot exists simply to justify the director's profound hatred for his characters and what they stand for. All you see is a filmmaker being hateful, preachy, condemning, moralizing without the benefit of a minimum of talent (or technique) to go with it.

It's very disappointing to find Caio Blat in this mess. Certainly one of the most promising young film actors in Brazil, with his sleepy-eyed puppy dog looks and emotional edge that often recall Sal Mineo's, Blat can be highly effective under good direction (as in "Carandiru", "Lavoura Arcaica", "Proibido Proibir"). Here, he's told to go over the top and he has to play with some of the most embarrassingly under-equipped "actors" in recent memory. He also enters the risky realm of graphic sexploitation scenes (so goddawful they look rather like web-cam porn).

The film opens and ends with real interviews with "typical" (?) middle-class youth -- Stockler wants us to take those interviews as "proof" of what he's trying to preach in fiction. But he blatantly despises and makes fun of his interviewees, selecting a highlight of abject, racist, sexist, stupid statements (which only shows assholes exist everywhere). Stockler wants to prove that Brazilian middle-class youths are ALL present or future fascists BECAUSE they're middle-class and enjoy recreational drugs (is he saying all neo-fascists are on drugs?? Or that drugs potentialize fascist behavior?? I couldn't tell).

With its dogmatic self-righteousness, headache-inducing technique and mind-bending boredom, "Cama de Gato" is bad for a 1,000 reasons but, above all, it's harmful in a very insidious manner: it gives detractors of Brazilian cinema a powerful case of argument. "Cama de Gato" is best unwatched, unmentioned, buried and forgotten.

"Cama de Gato" shot with practically no money, is the first feature lenght film from director Alexandre Stockler, and it covers one wild night in the life of three teenagers and the terrible consequences arisen from their what they consider "fun".

While the necessity of such a film is dire, and it its pacing and mise én scene works remarkably well for such a small picture, the lack of preparation the actors had great hurts the experience.

The portrayal of the three teenagers is stereotyped, bi-dimensional, unrealistic and even childish at times. The three are rarely believable, including the experienced Caio Blat.

One again, this film shows us how Brazil is filled with courageous and creative Directors, who unfortunately don't pay enough attention to the acting in their films. This is a prime example of why "City of God" appealed to so many and why other films don't.

Overall, a worthy attempt. I shall be patiently waiting for other films related to the TRAUMA manifesto.

6.5/10