Bufo & Spallanzani

This thriller (an unusual film genre in Brazilian cinema)is based on the brilliant best-seller from Brazil's current master novelist. It is quite a task to bring such an elliptical novel like this one to film. With its many philosophical themes, unusual scientific data, and a complex plot in a few time frames, the film adaptation would predictably be difficult to follow.

Yet it isn't. Even though most of the characters appear very differently in the two general time periods of the plot, a present one, and one a decade before, the action and the suspense flows very well.

I, for one, prefer an intelligent, timely urban Brazilian film to the "art house" favorites of late like "Central Station", "Me, You Them" and others. The fact is Brazil's population is 70% to 80% urban (one of the highest among large countries). Therefore, these films in urban settings are much more relevant to what is really happening in the country.

"Me, You, Them" and "Auto da Compadecida" may be very folksy and unusual films. But the vast majority of Brazil is not at all rural like India or China. Most Brazilian films released abroad suggest a Brazil predominantly rural, full of exotic villages as India or China. That just is not the case. Yes, Brazil has them, but they are over represented in its cinema for export.

May many more films like this one and "Tolerancia" and "Cronicamente Inviavel" (also excellent contemporary urban dramas) be released both within the country and abroad. It would not only educate more people in the more general reality of the country. It would also bring in a broad box office base and create a still inexistent wide audience which appreciates this kind of films.

This audience is turned off by the mere mention of "Brazilian movie" because of the recently exotic & rural nature of the films. This is not another "Brazilian movie." It is an exceptional film, and in my opinion, the best of 2000, along with the other two mentioned. See it if you can.

Amazing how bad this screenplay is. I feel sorry for writer Rubem Fonseca for having yet another masterpiece destroyed onscreen by incompetent film makers. Everything is bad in this movie: photography sucks, actors suck big time and, above all, screenplay is amateurish, full of clichés and really bad. Avoid this at all costs.

In Rio de Janeiro, when the socialite Delfina Delamare (Maitê Proença) is found dead in her Mercedez Benz with a shot in her heart, having a 22 caliber gun in her hand, the police conveniently believes she committed suicide, since she had leukemia and only six months of life. Delfina was the wife of the powerful Eugênio Delamare (Gracindo Júnior) and lover of the successful writer Gustavo Flávio (José Mayer). However, the honest, competent and incorruptible detective Guedes (Tony Ramos) is not convinced about the alleged "causa mortis", and when the receives the autopsy report, he finds that she had no powder on her fingers and the shirt was buttoned after the shot, and consequently she was murdered. Meanwhile, Gustavo is writing a novel, based on his life ten years ago as the Pan-American insurance investigator Ivan Canabrava, living with his mate Zilda (Zezé Polessa), when he found a huge fraud against Pan-American with the support of his friend Minolta (Isabel Guéron) and Prof. Ceresso (Juca de Oliveira), and hidden by Eugênio. The two stories are simultaneously unfolded, having a surprising open conclusion. "Bufo e Spallanzani" is a great Brazilian film-noir, having a great screenplay, magnificent direction and acting and wonderful locations in Rio de Janeiro and Serra da Bocaina. Based on a book of the famous Brazilian writer Rubem Fonseca, "Bufo e Spallanzani" presents two intriguing parallel tales, and is another excellent example of the present great moment of the Brazilian cinema. The beautiful naked body of Isabel Guéron is a collyrium for the eyes and the subtitle of this fictional tale could be "The Hard Life of an Incorruptible and Competent Brazilian Detective".

This movie participated of the following film festivals:

1) Festival do Rio BR; 2) Mar del Plata Festival; 3) Festival de Cinema do Recife ("hors concours"); 4) Miami Festival of Brazilian Movies: - Best Movie; - Best Screenplay; - Best Support Actor: Tony Ramos; - Best Soundtrack. 5) Montreal Festival ("hors concours"); 6) Festival de Gramado: - Best Lead Actor: Tony Ramos; - Best Lead Actress: Isabel Guéron; - Best Support Actor: Juca de oliveira; - Best Art Direction: Gualter Pupo. 7) Festival de Natal: - Best Support Actress: Zezé Polessa; - Best Art Direction: Gualter Pupo. 8) Del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano International Festival (Cuba Festival); 9) Palm Springs International Film Festival; 10) Tiburon International Film Festival; 11) Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema; 12) Chicago Latino Film Festival; and, 13) Paris Brazilian Cinema Festival.

The Brazilian DVD, released by Warner do Brasil, wrongly spells the French expression "hors concours" in the list of film festivals in the "Extra" and does not provide the year of each foregoing festival. Considering that Warner is not a minor distributor, it is a shame and a lack of respect with the Brazilian consumer! My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Bufo e Spallanzani"

Buffo e Spallanzani is not a typical movie It's a fantastic story with an interesting theme and a great cast.First of all,we can't forget that the movie was based in one of my favorite novel ,conceived by Rubem Fonseca.The book which is called by the same name of the movie has a wonderfull message and you learn so many things with it!

The plot is well developed and it mix violence,sex and a certain humor tha t has on the novel.It's not a Stallone movie or a kind of `The Silence of the lambs',but it is different.The sory is about a murder or the suicide of Delfina Delamare who was found inside her car dead and by her side a book called `The lovers'(Os amantes) written by Gustavo Flavio.Now the inspector Guedes has to investigate Gustavo's life and the other suspects.We watch the life of Gustavo in most part of the movie not Guedes' investigations.

Then we follow to the past of Gustavo Flavio who used to work in a insurance health company as a detective whose dutty was to attest that their cliets were really dead!But he discovers that somebody cheatted them.Actually there is a frog named Buffo marinus which free a liquid that in the humans has the effect of catalepsy(you sleep for two days and there isn't a single sign of life in you) so somebody use this method to win the money of the insurance company.Cool,ahn!

I won't tell the rest because there are a lot of mistery behind everything and turnabout in the story.It's a pleasure to enter in Rubem Fonseca's world.The ending is the best part don't lose!

9 out of 10.

A relatively interesting and relatively well made Brazilian feature, it is a shame that the narrative structure lets the film down. It takes two lines of action - both in the present day and in the past - and edits them together, which makes it awfully confusing as some differentiating details are only made clear later in the piece. But still there is some degree of disorientation as the film goes backwards and forwards, and perhaps this could have been handled a bit better. Also, the ending felt a little far-fetched to me, and the nudity in the film seemed excessive and pointless - but it is always intriguing stuff to watch. It has some things to say about high-level corruption, and the science behind the frog poisoning is fascinating. Overall, the film is better than the average thriller out there, but it's not quite good enough to recommend rushing out to see.