Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas

Oh, well! First time I saw this I was in high school. I've read the book a thousand times before, and I was kinda afraid of the potential movie disaster, but this and lots of other movies proves that only Brazilian can make a movie based on a novel that would satisfy any of the previous readers! As said before, having no climax is just point of the story, so that's a completely invalid statement. Reginaldo Farias couldn't have done a most accurate picture of Brás, and the sarcasm is everywhere. There may be moments in the book that no images can explain, but still, that's as perfect as it could ever get! Just a great movie.

This film takes you back to 19th century Brazil. The dead main character guides us through several periods of his life with a subliminal humor. He admits some secrets he did not dare to tell anybody during his lifetime. In this, I really got to like the leading character. The cast for this rather episodical movie was very convincing and well chosen. But, while drifting through the story, I had expected to get to any sort of a climax at some point. Unfortunately, there was none. Nonetheless, I left the cinema quite amused. Nice to see, if you like old costumes and an easy story. I give 7/10.

"After he died, in the middle of 1869, Brás Cubas decided to narrate his story and revisit the most important facts of his life, in order to distract himself in eternity. From then on, he remembered friends like Quincas Borba, his careless academic training in Portugal, the loves of his life and the privilege he had of never having to work in his life".

I found it much better than the book, as it doesn't get lost in scenario descriptions and brings the viewer much closer to the main character. It even has a comedic tone that works much better in this format than in reading.

This film turns out to be more focused on the personal drama of the character, not being a comedy per se but having very funny moments.

It's obvious it has no climax, the plot is about NOT having a climax. The main DEAD character, Cubas, is using such subliminal humor in a way to show some kind of regret for having built NOTHING solid during his life time. His existence was EMPTY. He just lived and died. That is why there is no climax! This is no bla-bla-bla-oh-there-should-be-some-happy-yap-yup-climax-honey romance, this is realism! Having a climax would screw the entire plot! The movie might not be perfect in showing this the way the novel does, but it does, and if you didn't noticed, well, you should then just read Brás Cubas's Posthumous Memories, the novel, by Machado De Assis. You won't regret.

It´s a very good movie. The director was very faithful with the book "Mémorias Postumas de Brás Cubas", but as the book, the movie is too deep and have a lot of signs that makes the movie be a little non sense to the foreigners and the Brazilians that didnt study at school about the writer.

Reginaldo Faria is perfect playing Brás Cubas, he gives the exactly kind of humor - ironic- that the character demands. The music and the way to pass the time is very dynamic and interesting. The movie can be funny for the most of the people, but for the ones that read the book is just perfect!