O invasor, l'intrus

"O Invasor" is a clear case of an overrated picture and I don't use that word lightly or all that frequently. Decades of hearing about this movie only made me aprehensive and cautious about wanting to see it and when I finally did, I was shocked and amazingly disappointing with it since I got nothing from the experience. Through the years I kept hearing about its "importance", the many awards given to it, the countless highlights about the film's soundtrack, acting, specially from newcomers Sabotagem and Titãs frontman Paulo Miklos, so many great things were said about this film and then...I probably missed something.

Beto Brant's film doesn't show us anything new. The story of two contractors (Marco Ricca and Alexandre Borges) who call up the services of a hired gun (Miklos, amazing!) to eliminate a third partner in their company in order to approve some big project of which we don't exactly how profitable it can be for them. All is done, the man gets killed with his wife but the killer doesn't leave the guys alone: he wants to work for the company in whatever they do and little by little he gets immersed in their lives, the company's work and also begins a relationship with the young daughter (Mariana Ximenes) of the deceased taking her into wild parties. It gets insanely weird when one of the business partners decide to kill the other and paranoia sets in within this group of people, that also brings a random lover (Malu Mader) to one of them.

What could be an accessible story with dark humor and some minor twists is turned into an incoherent mess that doesn't keep the audience engaged, most of the time we are lost in how Brant and his writers presents things (which includes the book's author Marçal Aquino, adaptating his own project even though he didn't even had an ending for the book so he improvised for the movie THEN finished the novel). Many things are not explained, the tension doesn't build in the way it is expected - I was hoping for the Miklos character to go insane each moment went by but instead is the insecure character played by Ricca who ends up in a journey of self-loathing and confusion when he finally gets a gun. Why bothering in using realistic elements if nothing will ring true when things start to unfold? If the idea was to create a chaotic scenario with this intruder guy ruining everyone's lives at least some form of humor could be brought on and let the danger appear with frequency.

It's not 100% wrong but there were times when I thought nothing had salvation in this thing. But there's some good and memorable things here. The real invader, outsider of this movie was the perfect choice for the title role. Paulo Miklos was the best choice for Anisio, the odd man in control of everything.

He is quirky, strange, menacing and he always appear when he's not expected. One could give to this role to any established actor out there and it would be just another fine performance, but having a non-actor capturing your attention with just his presence and a deadly look in his eyes, then you have something special (even though in one quick shot he looks at the camera, surprised to be in the shot and I wonder why Brant left the scene with this goof). Miklos scenes with Mariana are among the best, even though I don't buy much of their relationship and how it develops. Bottom of line, the acting is all good but the movie is so erratic and confusing that the experience is already ruined.

What's so great and so important about "O Invasor"? I don't know. I didn't find anything. There's not a worth seeing story here, nothing is new here, and there wasn't even a decent conclusion to atest we actually had seen something outstanding. Trust me, there are countless of better crime dramas out there, and countless better Brazilian films out there. This is not one of them. 4/10.

One can say almost the same things about this Brazilian movie, which won a top prize in the Sundance festival, that have been said about "City of God": both have received a sort of Hollywood treatment. But this one, though, has a sense of humor almost absent in "City of God", and to my knowledge it's one of the few Latin American movies that depict the attraction of some girls of the middle and high classes to the hip hop culture, and the young men of lower classes. In Panama, for example, fed up with the lack of authenticity and the false values of their milieus, the young women are attracted to the exciting and often violent events they experience alongside their urban anti-heroes. In spite of its formulaic structure and ending, it's an ironic, funny movie not to be missed.

I picked up this movie because I love Brazilian cinema and I am always on the lookout for good, new Brazilian movies. I read the reviews on this movie, with people raving about striking the film was and comparing it to "Cidade de Deus". In addition to that, looking at the film festival awards it won, I thought I'd made a good choice. Boy, did I turn out to be wrong.

This film is an unorganized, dysfunctional, fruitless mess. The story had potential. The idea of two men hiring a hit-man to take out their partner and then that hit-man turning around and forcing himself into their business, could've been interesting. It could've been played in a comedic way, or it could've been played in a threatening and frightening way.

Instead, the movie tries a little of both and succeeds at neither. At times the movie presents Miklos' character as someone who we should fear, other times he's seen as a joke, heckling the construction company's workers and bringing rappers into the office.

The only bright spot is that some of these actors give good performances. Marco Ricca as Ivan gives a great portrait of a man consumed by fear and guilt and we watch him spiral out of control. Although again, the movie flubs up his character, introducing us to his wife in the beginning, only to never show her again or really explain their marriage or why their relationship is so distant.

The three main characters are very well portrayed, especially Anisio by rock musician turned into first time actor Paulo Miklos. He is extremely convincing as the lower class trespasser/invader. The film shows very well the snowball effect of getting involved in ever more shady business, the contrast and similarities between the lower and higher classes. How everyone gets carried away by greed and ambition. 9-9,5 out of 10.

When their business partner's ethics prevent their company for working on jobs that may be slightly corrupt, Giba and Ivan decide to have him killed. They are recommended to approach a lowlife hitman, Anisio, who takes the job, killing the partner and his wife. However after the job is done Anisio begins to integrate himself in to the company and the lives of Ivan and Giba. This only accelerates Ivan's descent into panic and guilt.

With comparisons to the wonderful City Of God, I decided to give this film a shot and found it to be a very different beast to the aforementioned film, smaller, not as good but still an enjoyable film coming from Brazil. The plot is not perfect; I found it slightly difficult to accept Anisio sudden interest in this company in particular when he likely came into contact with many rich clients before. I imagine that there is a certain comment about the status of Brazil, where the few good people with money are gradually corrupted or invested by those willing to bend rules and take advantage. If this was the aim, it wasn't totally successful as it damaged the central narrative a little bit. Aside from this, the film still works, not so much as a thriller but as a drama as Ivan falls into guilt over his actions - again the attempts to make social comment is worthy but it moves the film away from dramatics by a few degrees.

The cast are pretty good. I felt that Miklos gave a good performance as the hired killer. He seemed quite natural and at ease - even if I hated it when the soundtrack used his band's awful thrash metal music. He was coached by rapper Sabotage, who also has a small role but was killed shortly after the film was released. Ricca descends well in his role and makes it convincing, Borges is suitably seedy and represents the worst of the wealthy class in Brazil I guess. Ximenes role in both the film and the subtext was less clear; her main purpose seemed to be titillation, which, in fairness, she delivered well!

Overall this film works well because it tries to be more than just a drama and more than just a social comment; however it would be too forgiving of me if I didn't note that it did rather fall between these two stools. Despite missing it's mark, it is still a good shot at the target. The direction and writing are both good and they bring about a film that, although flawed, is still interesting and involving even if these aspects are ahead of it's ability to be dramatic or thrilling.