To the Left of the Father

This movie gained a cult-status because it won more than 30 international awards, received more praise from the Brazilian critics than any other feature of that year, but was never released on DVD or VHS until last week. But the waiting wasn't worthless: the movie is a masterpiece. Few films are so honest and love their characters so much as this one, and has so much faith in it's material. Carvalho's directing is clearly very elaborate, and makes every frame seems poetic... The baroque cinematography and the score reflects perfectly the mood of the characters, the sound mixing is nearly perfect, and the cast is, without exception, magnificent. Certainly one of the most overlooked films ever, but this time, the public cannot be blamed.

Well, I've actually seen this one in its entirety only once. First time around I gave up after 2 hours. Then I thought I might as well try again, as there could be some other great scenes in the last 40 minutes that I'd like to see on the big screen. It was worth it. It starts very well, and I like the ending, and there's lots of great stuff in between. But I have to say that 2 hours and 40 minutes was too long for this one. And a bunch of great scenes do not make a great movie just because they're put together, at least not in this case, I don't think so. Anyway, if you're in the mood for slow cinema, try this one.

This is, without a doubt, one of the best movies I have ever seen. It is a spectacular example of the new brazillian movie-making!

It is a technically perfect movie, with a brilliant cinematography and a masterful photography. The scenes are very well built and the director truly owns this movie. Of course, it derives from one of the masterpieces of recent literature, Raduan Nassar's impressive novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and have to disagree with Flavio Velames comment, complaining about it being too erudite. There's only such thing if a movie is pretensious, which is obviously not the case: this movie breathes honesty. There are already enough "common" movies being produced around the world to commit the crime of discarding this one for not being "common". Not all movies are supposed to be for the audience to have "fun". Some of them (the best ones) are supposed to enchant you, as this one does.

Keep up the extraordinary work, Luiz Fernando Carvalho! I had the opportunity of attending the screening of this movie at the Film Festival Rotterdam 2002, where Luiz Fernando spoke. Enlightening. True art and true artist. Thank you.

Raduan Nassar is that kind of guy that has a totally different vision of the world. His books are always in surreal language, which is good but this time didn´t work at all. The story itself is weak. A man has to take his brother back home to his family because eveyone is suffering and nobody can take anymore, not even his father. The thing is "Lavoura Arcaica" is a excelent book but doesn´t work on the screen. This movie is brought to life as a Brazillian contemporary classic and in fact is not that much. People get excited and all, but they don´t really think what they are watching. It is true, Luiz Fernando Carvalho did a great job with the cast but that was all. He couldn´t put all the magic of the book to be present in this THREE HOUR movie that has a lots of good poetry that only Nassar can geniously write. Some sentences are said that touches you but are better written. Raul Cortez gives a normal performance that people insist that is remarkable but is not. The only thing remarkable in this movies is Selton Mello´s performance. One of the best of all time without a doubt. Worth a watch just to see this guy rock the screen taking all the poetry out.

"Lavoura Arcaica" is , of course, a good movie with a lot of beautiful stuff in it but is not all that people think. THREE HOURS are just too much boring but is worth to see a talent like Selton Mello giving everything he has and more. He steals every single scene he´s in. 7 out of 10.

'Stunning' is not an exaggerated word to describe this film. The images are haunting, and I saw it on the small screen at home. I can only imagine what it must have looked like in a theatre.

Director Luiz Fernando Carvalho is masterful in meticulously capturing the poetic word rhythms of novelist Raduan Nassar, who wrote this metaphysical, philosophical work. The largely verbatim prose-poetry (direct from Nasar's book), spoken improvisationally by the actors, is psychologically multi-layered. It is all brilliantly complemented by Walter Cavalho's multi-award-winning cinematography. Cavalho's disturbing and often sumptuous images linger long after the screen has turned dark. One is reminded of Sven Nykvist's haunting style of 'still-life-photography' in films, particularly those made with Ingmar Bergman.

Lavoura Carcaica is almost three hours long, and (isn't this always the way with great films?) it requires an almost immediate re-viewing. One just cannot absorb the language and imagery in one sitting.

The ensemble acting is first-rate. Sultan Mello is the tortured son in temporary self-imposed exile from his family, who yearns (shamefully) for the love and sensual heat of his sister Ana's body; Simone Spoladore is the innocent, sweet-faced Ana, who expresses her desire for love by dancing (the images are more erotic than 99% of the soft-core sex you see in mainstream movies these days); Juliana Carneiro da Cunha is the loving, long-suffering mother who is an exemplar of maternity, a woman who sacrifices everything to her children, and particularly her 'pet,' Andre (Mello); and Raul Cortez is simply astonishing to watch as the austere, evangelistic, hypocritical father who rages about the primacy of familial love but doesn't really understand its true meaning when it comes to his own children.

This is a film that well deserved its many nominations and awards. It is deeply challenging and demanding, and it almost certainly would never have been made in Hollywood.