Cazuza: O Tempo Não Pára

***** MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS *******

If you're not Brazil and have never lived here, you probably don't know Cazuza. But Brazilian people and lucky ones who lived in this country in the 1980's know this great composer and singer. In 1981 he begun his career as the singer of Barão Vermelho, that soon became one of the most popular Brazilian rock bands. With great heats playing on TV and radio, Cazuza and his band got fans all over the country. In 1985 he decided he wouldn't keep on playing with his mates and kicked out a solo career, that took five years. Cazuza had more success due to his talent and courage to sing everything he wanted. Unfortunately, he also kept on using drugs and with dangerous free sex habits. As a consequence, he got AIDS. Even after the discovery of this terrible disease, he kept on singing and showing no fear of showing the whole country the effects of AIDS. In 1990 he died. This is the story everybody (in Brazil at least) knows. This is what we saw on TV news, magazines and newspapers. The film shows it all in a beautiful, but at the same time strong, way. Daniel Oliveira plays the protagonist in a great way, and physically he really looks like Cazuza. Marieta Severo and Reginaldo Faria, two of the best Brazilian actors, play Cazuza's parents, who never left him alone. Walter Carvalho and Sandra Werneck direct this movie in a remarkably way. Cameras are never totally stopped. There's always some kind of movement, as if the cameramen had the cameras on their shoulders all the time. This gives a flavour of movement, that makes some kind of tense atmosphere.

My Rate 8/10

Not being a Cazuza fan, I was remarkably impressed with how good, inspiring, and unforgettable this movie proved to be.

Some may be put off by the narrative style, which employs a significant amount of freedom in its composition. We aren't treated to a normal dramatic progression, instead being given specific segments of time covering Cazuza's adventures, relationships, dreams and hardships, as if we were looking at a picture book. This brings a sense of poetry, liveliness and urgency to the picture, even if it may displease moviegoers used to Hollywood film-making.

The Cinematography - as the narrative style - is urgent, free-floating, using only hand-held cameras. To put it quite simply, the picture perfectly captures the poetry of being young, of hoping for better days, of yearning to feel alive and connect with people.

Daniel de Oliveira's performance is easily one of the best I've seen this decade, and I hope he picks up many awards around the globe with his work - both extremely convincing and captivating. He's one of your great young actors, and I hope to see him in many more pictures.

Thankfully, this is a picture that can be enjoyed by any Brazilian, as it is a testimony of a great period of our culture. This film is not only about Cazuza - is about any kid out there with dreams in his heart and the courage to try and go some good in this world.

Congratulations to Carvalho, Werneck, Lucinha and co. for creating one of the Best Brazilian films in recent memory.

Our idols cannot - and will not - be forgotten.

Cazuza was the lead singer of Barao Vermelho, a Brazilian rock n'roll band, back in the early 80s. Their songs were distinguished by the creative work of Frejat, the guitar player. But it was Cazuza's strong, sexual, acid and ironic lyrics and attitude who made of him "the best poet of his generation" - according to Caetano Veloso. He followed a solo career during the second half of that decade, and died out of AIDS in 1990, aged 32.

The movie covers from his early 20s, the first rehearsals with Barao Vermelho, until his death. The apex of Barao at the first Rock in Rio, and the drama of discovering the disease. Expect a lot of sex, drugs and high quality 80s Brazilian rock n'roll.

Daniel Oliveira incorporates Cazuza in a way only seen before in the Jim Morrison/Val Kilmer possession during the shooting of The Doors. An special attention to the role of Lucinha, Cazuza's mother (and writer of the book upon which the movie was based), played here by the all-talented Marietta Severo.

Although one can notice some lack of resources in one or other scene - esp.the ones in stage - the story of the bisexual genius in his road to excess is told in the most wholehearted way.

I was very interested in watching Cazuza. His story is well-known by most of the Brazilians that lived during the 80s rock moment. But Cazuza himself was not really explained in the movie. It was based in the book of Lucinha Araujo, Cazuza's mother, and it seems that she tried to convince herself and the others that she was a good mother and he was a good son. If you are a parent, you can take you own conclusion about this. All the self-destructive behavior of Cazuza doesn't fix in this scenario.From where it came from? For his rebellion with the homophobic world? Or it was a consequence of the inexistence of limits or punishments in a high-class Brazilian family? For who knows the story, the movie looks like a poor documentary. If Cazuza is considered the real Brazilian poet of the 80s, he deserved a better explanation.

How can we know if this was a superficial picture of Cazuza? Could we ever separate the man from the myth? The movie did show him as being a spoiled kid, self destructive and with no boundaries and at the same time, his passion and ability to make poetry out of anything - politics, love, relationships and even his imminent encounter with death. For whoever expected the movie to be a political statement, I understand the disappointment. The movie focused on his legacy (probably what he'd proud of the most): his music. Excellent work from main actor Daniel de Oliveira impersonating Cazuza - especially towards the end, it was amazing, very touching. I liked the way it ended, not falling for an easy soap opera melodrama.

I'd recommend it - great movie.