miszel

A very slight, somewhat nonsensical movie about an orphan 16 year-old girl who runs away from her sugardaddy after becoming pregnant by him. She ends up in a village in the middle of nowhere and proceeds to charm the pot-growing locals with her youthful vigor.

Shot on video on an obviously low budget, the film pulls out some funny moments from the cultural clashes between the villagers and the headstrong young girl.

Other than that there's really no story to speak of and the editing is so slapdash that you really do have to be as high as the villagers (and obviously the filmmakers) in order to avoid a headache. Still it does have some scruffy charm and some real offbeat humour.

I'm not sure if I understood even half the cultural and political references this film makes. After all it is Brazilian and from the late 60's. In many ways a product of that era but because it seems to be based on fairy tales or legends there's an interesting timeless quality to it as well. That and the outrageous sight gags, combined with crazy costumes makes this seem like a live-action cartoon. Definitely a fun ride through jungles filled with carnivorous nymphs, machine-gun toting topless commandos, men changing race when they smoke marijuana, a piranha pool party and much much more! Well worth a look though you may need a friend versed in Brazilian history & culture to make sense of it all. The restored 2K print is absolutely gorgeous.