User reviews

Crazed, hollow but not entirely erratic, the musical comedy "Tabu" ("Taboo") is another fantasy tribute to the Week of Modern Art of 1922, made on celebration to its 60th anniversary. Like Joaquim Pedro de Andrade's film "O Homem do Pau Brasil" ("The Brazilwood Man"), both were released on the same year, and they had modernist poet Oswald de Andrade as their main character while placing him on fictional scenarios. This film, by Júlio Bressane, imagines a 1930's meeting between Oswald (Colé Santana) with Carnival machinhas composer Lamartine Babo (singer Caetano Veloso), with both artists sharing their views on Brazil, social and sexual relations, and paying artistic tributes to one another.

"Tabu" doesn't have an established narrative, it's more like a collage of elements that are always punctuated with countless musical numbers from 1920's marchinhas. Along with few performatic moments, that also includes other real characters played by Norma Bengell, José Lewgoy and Mário Gomes, the film intertwines bits and pieces from silent era movies to compose its panorama of early Brazil; poems and lyrics; and vintage pornographic films (perhaps what stands out amidst the randomness of it all. Very graphic stuff, so stay out if easily offended).

While it does create an interesting and wide view of Brazil and its culture of the early 20th century, it's a film that doesn't have much of a goal neither a message that validates the fictional encounter of two important cultural figures. It just shows that they would get along just fine, one admires the other; both were terrible bohemians and womanizers yet they left their mark in creating a genuine and modern culture in Brazil, that was proud and also very critical country of the country.

But I enjoyed seeing a film from the early 1980's that was highly artistic and challenging, as opposed to the other two fronts of cinema most present at the time, a division between political/social cinema or the pornochanchadas and sofcores. "Tabu" was a breath of fresh air outside of those two established genres that praises a national culture, and it's funny, almost insane and quite entertaining. It's not poem nor prose, it's a mixture of art forms and elements that somehow works well together without excesses.

However, one cannot say Bressane was entirely original with some devices used, such as the use of bloopers and his own voice shouting directions to the actors in the actual scene filmed, as Glauber Rocha had done previously on his final film, the genial "A Idade da Terra". It's curious to see those moments, but they can also be distractive at times amidst the lack of order and coherence of everything.

Enjoyable for the most part, and enjoyable for how it tries to create a valid portrait of what Brazil's culture was and what could be if imagined in such bizarre yet artistic way. It's different than anything you might have seen, even by today's standards. 6/10.