"The Sharks of Copacabana" is one of those friend reunion movies where a group of characters get together after years apart and what brings together
is a tragic event. It's a nice and useful cliche but still a cliche. Rosario Boyer's film is a manageable and good one if you manage to control your
thoughts about cheap acting and bizarre presentation. The early minutes are so weirdly filmed and strangely acted (even with veterans on the cast) that I
kept shaking my head in disbelief, and I know that a large part of the crowd will find themselves feeling the same way and might turn it off. Gladly, I kept
going and it got better with the surprises on the way.
We follow the sharks of the title, a group of surfers from Rio and they meet again when one of their friends gets run over by the presidential car.
The group is formed by Nando (Raul Gazzola), Tiago (Ricardo Macchi), Bruno (Alex Teix), Ezequiel (Ricardo Herriot) and Marcelo (André Luiz Pereira), all
in their late 40's, some of them good-looking and involved with the sport, others went through different careers and with different relationship statuses.
Strangely enough for a reunion type film is that we mostly follow Nando, a real estate agent whose father is dying from cancer, and he's shaken about his
friend's death since the deceased married with his ex-girlfriend and he still has feelings for her. Luck or fate those feelings disappear but what comes as
substitute and new breath of life for him appears in the form of Nicole (Rayanne Morais), the 20-year old daughter of the couple, who's deeply in love with
him - despite the age difference and of her being engaged with Francisco (Rafael Almeida), a promising International Relations graduate. And as Nando tends
for his father, only getting weaker, and a little uncertain by a new romance - since he's never had a deeper commitment with anyone, neither with Nicole's
mom - he also deals with a dream business partnership he might get with Bruno.
There are many twists and turns in the story, it has a nice flow and sequence of events but if we consider the title is a very misleading one since
its mostly about Nando, the other friends appear here and there when Nando tries to get help or help them, and Ezequiel (who became a pastor) doesn't
return after their meetings and his character could have been used when Nando faced some critical moments where he could use of some insight.
It's easy to like the story and the characters, but the film overall is not a simple task due to a lack of quality in many aspects that it feels like
a gigantic B-movie that's desperatly trying to be taken seriously but some moments are presented in a careless and poor manner that it's easy to understand
viewers having some laughing fits (I had a huge one during a major plot twist. First I was jawdropping thinking wow, very original stuff, then I burst
into laughter). Acting merits goes to the young girl, her fiyance (Rafael is too good of actor and it's a pity he has one scene), and Guil Silveira as
Nando's father. I don't know how they composed his makeup effects, but he sure looked dying each scene went by).
But on the other hand it's a film that I haven't shaken from my head as it dealt with life situations that are not simple, are believable
and made me question about the paths we all travel in our lives, how those paths shape who we are and how some things can never be changed. And if the
movie hasn't found a way to make metaphors about surfing and life, I guess the best I could think is about dealing with the waves in the best way you can
but remember they'll always take you somewhere despite the moves you make on top of them.
Fun and reflective movie that works, if you can ride along with some of its cringe aspects. 6/10.
