Os Amigos

The film is a mix of the stories of two friendships (one between kids and another between mature adult man and woman) and a romantic comedy (considering the general structure of the film), with the life of Marco Ricca's character in the core: he is lost and trying to find his way, just like Ulysses (it was ridiculously bizarre that he imvented to the children that Odysseus was a nickname given by Ulysses's close friends!). The metaphors with the Odissey and Hercules and others are numerous, but either very generic or not understandable (at least by me). Indeed, many interesting things happen in the film (including the architecture argument, the scene in the toy store, and the special participation of Alice Braga and Caio Blat), but their connection and the reason to be in the script were not well built or clearly shown. Dialogues also had ups and downs, being too much artificial sometimes. Dira Paes, one of the best actresses from Brazil (Ricca is also one of the best actors), does not have a role where she can show her skills mostly of the time. In the last part, however, she is subtle but striking in portraying the feelings her character had and finally became explicit.

"Os Amigos" ("The Friends") covers a day in the life of a sad architect (Marco Ricca) who is trying to find a meaning for his life after the death of his childhood best friend. In the chaos and confusion of the streets of São Paulo, from the moment he wakes up until he rests, the man has many internal insights about his life, childhood and the encounters and conversations he has with strangers or his friend (Dira Paes), who tries to cheer him up by fixing up a blind date.

The movie is good, charming and quite positive despite the sadness and melancholy from the main character. Our troubled Ulysses from modern times and modern odyssey faces conflicts (like the one with another architect during a school project or the semi-disastrous encounter with a couple who tries to make a project with him - a nice cameo by Alice Braga and Caio Blat), some tender moments when he visits the widow of his best friend; or the amazing and surreal moment where he meets a graceful and helpful boy who helps him find a birthday present for his friend's child, a moment where he discovers important secrets of life that'll shape and change his vision of future.

What's stops "Os Amigos" from achieving greatness its heavy use of cliches of sadness and the huge amount of random little moments that don't cause effect in the story or are just used to impose a ssense of artistic style. Here's some examples: the moment where the man keeps staring the black woman with her amazing hairdo while a Edvard Grieg's famous classic theme plays in the background. There's no effect in there just as the countless bits and pieces at the zoo (except for the eagle story which has a better return when a kid tells the leading man about the middle age crisis). The bits where the circus kids keep on performing on stage telling the story of Odysseus is another element that times an awful lot of time for us to relate with the main character towards the end. It all tries to be too artsy with its sort of abstract elements, which works more in hipster romantic comedies. The film has some bits of humor but it's far from being a romance.

Thankfully, the film is anchored by the great cast and filled with moments of joy, emotion and daily events that makes us feel contemplating life. The female friend of the architect is very helpful with her positive outcomes on the man; the childhood flashbacks show the importance his friend had in his life and we barely get to see the man he became in the future years even though we always know that they were loyal to each other. It takes some time to develop and reach some momentum but the film has many fine elements to compose a beautiful and relevant story.

I'd probably watch again sometime in the future, who knows. But I'm willing to, just to observe things in a different perspective and definitely to watch the lovely toy store sequence. I was blown away by that moment in particular.

Here's a movie about the power and importance of friendship, how it can be more important than love since it can bring to it in a firm and solid way; and how the unpredictable moments of life are always the best and most surprising moments of all; and the good things that defines us who we are, from our childhood to our eventual adulthood. 7/10.