Cazuza: Time Doesn't Stop

It was very disappointing because I wanted to know about who was Cazuza, why he was writing those songs and saying how bad was his family, his class and the evil Brazil.

All I've discovered was a spoiled child that want to do everything he intend to. There were no repercussion about his real personal life and how he became friend of the Barao Vermelho's members again after their separation and discussions.

After all, its pointless to watch it if you have no idea about who is that guy, that Brazilian singer... The last part of the movie should't longer, it was the most dramatic part of his life and that kind of thing works on movies biographies. Maybe his mother didn't want to watch it or reaffirm the disease his is remembered for.

Cazuza was the lead singer of Barao Vermelho, a Brazilian rock n'roll band, back in the early 80s. Their songs were distinguished by the creative work of Frejat, the guitar player. But it was Cazuza's strong, sexual, acid and ironic lyrics and attitude who made of him "the best poet of his generation" - according to Caetano Veloso. He followed a solo career during the second half of that decade, and died out of AIDS in 1990, aged 32.

The movie covers from his early 20s, the first rehearsals with Barao Vermelho, until his death. The apex of Barao at the first Rock in Rio, and the drama of discovering the disease. Expect a lot of sex, drugs and high quality 80s Brazilian rock n'roll.

Daniel Oliveira incorporates Cazuza in a way only seen before in the Jim Morrison/Val Kilmer possession during the shooting of The Doors. An special attention to the role of Lucinha, Cazuza's mother (and writer of the book upon which the movie was based), played here by the all-talented Marietta Severo.

Although one can notice some lack of resources in one or other scene - esp.the ones in stage - the story of the bisexual genius in his road to excess is told in the most wholehearted way.

The impression I had on the first hour of the movie was that it was more like a scrapbook of some memorable events in Cazuza's life rather than a biography. The scenes have no connection, it seems they're only there for you to know what happened. It looks like a story told by a fan who collects news about him. There is no drama, nothing to expect, no plot at all.

The last 30 minutes aren't really a change, but it's a more dense part, because of the discovery of the disease that is slowly killing him.

The only things that save the movie are the performance of Daniel de Oliveira, not only on stage but also off, and of course the songs and poetry of Cazuza.

How can we know if this was a superficial picture of Cazuza? Could we ever separate the man from the myth? The movie did show him as being a spoiled kid, self destructive and with no boundaries and at the same time, his passion and ability to make poetry out of anything - politics, love, relationships and even his imminent encounter with death. For whoever expected the movie to be a political statement, I understand the disappointment. The movie focused on his legacy (probably what he'd proud of the most): his music. Excellent work from main actor Daniel de Oliveira impersonating Cazuza - especially towards the end, it was amazing, very touching. I liked the way it ended, not falling for an easy soap opera melodrama.

I'd recommend it - great movie.

As a Brazilian, I grew up listening to Cazuza, where his songs marked my childhood and that of many Brazilians. I didn't know much about his personal life and I believe that most Brazilians didn't know much either, besides the fact that he was bisexual.

The film came up with the proposal to, precisely, tell about his personal life until his musical rise. The proposal is very interesting and reading it like that, nothing could go wrong, as there were many mistakes in my view.

The script at the beginning of the film is extremely fast and confusing in many moments, in some scenes you wonder who this character is and what he is doing there and what is his importance to the story. His musical rise was left in parallel, there was nothing to show that, he just started to progress his career out of the blue.

The actor who played Cazuza is excellent, his acting was wonderful, but his lines were full of figures of speech and ready-made effect phrases that Cazuza himself would speak, but not all the time in any dialogue he had with someone.

I believe the film would have had a lot of potential if it hadn't failed at these points, if the script hadn't been less confusing and shown more clearly its rise in musical life to its decline with AIDS.