"Bendito Fruto" is a charming, modest, totally relaxed light comedy from first-time director Sérgio Goldenberg, and a kind of nostalgic revival and homage to the typical comedy "carioca" (that is, born in or typical of Rio de Janeiro) style -- not simple to define, but always involving characters who are easy-going, risqué, unhurried, self-deprecating, unburdened by existential angst, and situations abounding with sexual innuendos and mistaken identities imbroglios. The "carioca" comedy doesn't strive for the loud laugh, but for the mocking (and self-mocking) giggle. This kind of comedy is a particular Brazilian genre that began as early as 1908 and thrived till the late 1960s. It was then reshaped as soft-porn sex comedy (pornochanchadas) in the 1970s, and dead by the 1980s, as it migrated to TV shows and sitcoms.
The plot of "Bendito Fruto" parodies the dramatic clichés of the popular Brazilian soap operas (illegitimate children, love triangles, closeted homosexuality, veiled racism, the decadent middle class, the man who falls for his housemaid etc) while naively sticking to the old Brazilian myth that relationships among people from different social layers are "easy-going", liberal, unprejudiced (they aren't, of course it just happens that social and racial prejudices in Brazil are not as explicit as in other cultures).
The script, by director Goldenberg and TV soap opera writer Rosane Lima, has a lot of loose ends and disturbing inconsistencies (how can a TV star go to a favela in Rio and not be smothered by hoards of fans? What was the relationship between Virgínia and Edgar's father? Why did Egdar take Virgínia as his house guest? Is it possible that Virgínia will not even try to fight for Edgar's love? And on and on...). There's not a single original touch about the plot or dialog: everything's pretty much well-known territory -- especially disappointing is the gratuitous, "mod" and ultimately unimportant gay subplot. Luckily, there are three main pluses:
1) director Goldenberg's assured, discreet, self-effacing style (very unusual these days, considering the exhibitionist technique of most young Brazilian filmmakers), unhurried pace and unhampered visual treatment, not once yielding into showy camera movements or staccato editing, and never striving for the hysterical gag, making us forget the occasional plot holes and clichés by under-emphasizing "story" and concentrating on "mood";
2) the pleasure of once again watching Rio de Janeiro's jaw- dropping natural beauty in a Brazilian movie, which was "de rigueur" up to the 1960s. However, in the last 2 decades, this kind of "alienating sightseeing" has been labeled as "compromised deviation" by socially concerned Brazilian filmmakers; as a result, audiences have been given only the ugliest sights and sides of Rio in recent films (which surely also deserve to be seen, but not exclusively).
3) the very efficient cast, including bulldog-faced comedy champ Otávio Augusto as Edgar; the always believable Zezeh Barbosa as the housemaid; the smart Vera Holtz charming up her basically stupid role as Virgínia; and most of all Lúcia Alves, who plays the tough-with-a- heart-of-gold spinster hairdresser Telma, her role under her total control, from her makeup and wardrobe up to her locked-jaw delivery and acid sense of humor. On the other hand, the young actors in the cast (Eduardo Moscovis, Evandro Machado, Camila Pitanga) are much less satisfying, but then their roles are barely sketches, though Camila (daughter of famous Cinema Novo star Antonio Pitanga) tries her best and is a complete joy to look at.
Don't expect anything profound, but if you're in the mood for a relaxed, violence-free, charming lightweight comedy, "Bendito Fruto" will certainly make you feel a little lighter and brighter, almost like a ride in the Sugar Loaf's cable car over Guanabara Bay on a sunny summer morning.
