Der König von Rio

I first watched "Rei do Rio" ("The King of Rio") some 15 years ago, late night TV program, and liked it for whatever reasons that it didn't felt like a time wasted but remembered very little of it. As I watched "Águia na Cabeça" ("Eagle on the Top") very recently I was remembered of that film which also stars Nuno Leal Maia getting involved with illegal gambling on Rio and decided to take another look. It didn't improve for the best neither got bad, it's an okay escapism and easier to follow than the 1984 movie (but I wonder if director/writer Flávio Thiago had heard of Dias Gomes original play of which this film was based, or there were news at the time saying a film version was on the works and he rushed his movie first to cash in. The stories are quite similar and they have the same lead actor).

A classic dramatic story where two friends are torn apart because of business matters, you've seen that before. Nuno plays Tucão, a small figure in the Jogo do Bicho (illegal gambling) who works for the powerful Cacareco (Milton Gonçalves) who runs all the best betting corners in town. After a premonitory dream and some visions, Tucão, along with best mate Nico Sabonete (Nelson Xavier) bet on the lucky numbers and get a great deal of money which allows Tucão to finally get married and get the courage to defy Cacareco in order to become The King of Rio and control all the spots. But as predicted by Cacareco, in a Shakesperean tradition of oracles and their premonitions he is told that this partnership will be broken in time, and it happens. Nico feels like a helper rather than a man capable of having his own business spots, and that's when all the luck in the world starts to fade away and a battle between both will begin, jeopardizing the future of their owns sons and daughters with Tucão's daughter (Andréa Beltrão) and Nico's son (Arthur Muhlenberg) trying to find ways to live their love for each other.

Both this film and "Águia na Cabeça" present a relevantly real view on the world of illegal gambling in the 1980's, and Rio de Janeiro as a major background scenery since at the time the biggest king of its period and before Castor de Andrade ran things like a true king, with the cops and authorities supplying for him - and Nuno's character has a lot in common with him since both had a personal honor code of never dealing with drug trafficiking, and that's why Nico starts to change the business for himself with the aide of a crooked chief of police (Tônico Pereira, always great in those roles). But it's also the kind of story you see presented in coutless crime/mafia movies but told in more spectacular and better ways. It's sure entertaining but doesn't reveal anything new or so original to be seen.

Director Fábio Barreto had a fine cast working for him, and I must say that I quite enjoyed the usually wooden and repetitive Nuno Leal Maia, he's more of a hero in this movie than in "Águia..." where his character becomes a cold-blooded murderer. In this movie he had the chance to shine a little above anything he ever done since audiences are allowed to see him age (the story takes place between 1964 and 1984), and you can attest that his character matures a little, has a conviction and he's quite right with it. Nelson Xavier is always excellent and he gives some humored moments; but Milton Gonçalves was quite over-the-top as the original boss. Only when he appears in visions that he becomes something else.

It's a real classic story and it doesn't go wrong with neither its presentation or its morale as analysing those characters. Easy come, easy go.

There's luck, there's fate and there's success but with those you can always count on the bad, the betrayals, and the designs of human mind and human heart always asking for more, and even the things one cannot control: other people and their will. And to indeed be a king, it's so lonely up there. 6/10.

The film on misdemeanour lottery jogo do bicho has a very nice opening title vignette and a great gangster scene in the beginning, with boss Cacareco (Milton Gonçalves), aspirants Tucão and Nico Sabonete (Nuno Leal Maia and Nelson Xavier), corrupt commissioner of the Rio de Janeiro Police Paixão (Tonico Pereira) and other thugs. The tension between Cacareco and Tucão works well, as Gonçalves's performance, exaggerated in the precise amount of a stylish mafia film, is the best thing in the whole movie. While I like the spiritual and Saint George mystical elements introduced in the story, I consider that the film lost its strength and worsened (although never becoming bad) after the shooting in the jungle between the two rival bands. The Romeo and Juliet story never calls attention (although Andréa Beltrão is an excellent actress and seeing football columnist Artur muhlemberg as her boyfriend was at least an intriguing curiousity). Tony Tornado is nice but had a minor role. Later appearance of Milton Gonçalves, kind of goblinish, is ok, but far from the level he presented in the fist part. The increasing feud between former friends Tucão and Nico is not bad, and Nelson Xavier has a correct performance, but their characters are far from the charisma of Cacareco. Anyway, I liked how the movie related jogo do bicho and carnival, and that misdemeanour and narcotics traffic. I liked even more how the relationship between the police, the press and crime was represented, and Tonico Pereira has a nice role. I also liked how the character Marilia (Amparo Grisales) interacted with Tucão, Paixão, and Nico. The last but not least, it was interesting to see all the gangsters and prostitutes in the side who supported military coup in 1964.