Here's a fun story about a young girl (Débora Bloch) who moves to the big city of Rio de Janeiro to become a singer and discovering
the Brazilian pop/rock scene of the early 1980's, finding some troubles and some love on her path to fame and glory.
"Bete Balanço" ("Swingin'
Betty") is the typical 'star is born' kind of flick , with tolerable cliches as it presents a colorful and enthusiastic view of beautiful Rio,
the musical scene that dominated the period with countless successful bands and artists becoming the heat of the moment, and a few of them
like Cazuza and Barão Vermelho appear as themselves. Add to the mix Débora, Diogo Vilela, Lauro Corona, Maria Zilda Bethlem, Hugo Carvana and
Arthur Muhlenberg and the result obtained by director Lael Rodrigues makes of "Bete Balanço" a nostalgic film with plenty of charm, good humor
and fun moments all around.
Won't say the story was fully captivating as it loses itself with a weak subplot revolving on street violence where the
photographer Rodrigo (Corona) investigates the lynching of street urchins by some important people, and strange as everything already is, that's
how he and Bete meet each other. He makes a daring photo exhibition from that moment, but later on that moment never caught up with him, and
we're already expecting some danger coming to the couple. The subplot is relevant for its period, and the social denouncement is valid but it
just doesn't sustain itself in this particular film.
Another point of contention comes from the singing bits, and since the film is about a wannabe singer, it doesn't convince or seduce much
having Débora in such role as she doesn't much of a singing voice. The studio rehearsal and the duet with Cazuza were nice, but far from being
potential songs that could become a single such as the title track (more famous than the film itself).
Yet I really liked this film. It's one of those summer stories with positive characters and positive spirits, many flights of imagination coming
from the lead character dreaming of fame and making spectacular music videos. And it's one of those rare opportunities to see Lauro Corona on
film, as he only made this one and the superb "O Sonho Não Acabou", and he was more well-known for soap opera works during the period. He was
an electrifying presence on screen, very talented but left us too soon (hoping to see re-runs from his TV shows). To see him sharing the screen
with his "twin" brother Cazuza was amazingly bittersweet. 8/10.
