L'homme qui photocopiait

'Money is only paper that people believe is worth something. If nobody believes it, it's useless,' says Andre, a young man who works as a paper copier in a store but really wants to work as a cartoonist.

Too bad that everyone believes that money is a very useful piece of paper. Andre doesn't make enough money. His paycheck is low and he struggles with his meager budget, which allows him to buy and do very little. Everyday, he thinks of different ways to make money.

The need of money can make a person do some desperate things and Andre becomes desperate when he meets the girl of his dreams. He needs money to spend on her. His desperation leads him to make some very questionable choices.

Andre's character is so likable that I couldn't help but cheer him on to succeed in his dreams. I hoped that he would not get in trouble or hurt. The people around him like his girlfriend Sylvia, his co-worker Marinez, and her friend Cardoso are all appealing characters to watch.

This is a fun movie to watch with interesting twists and turns to the very end. It's a good story with a good ending.

André (Lázaro Ramos) is a nineteen years old man who works as a photocopier operator in a small suburban store. He is very simple, earning R$ 240,00 (US$ 80,00) per month, the price of a fancy pair of tennis shoes, and he has just the basic education. He shares some expenses with his mother: he pays part of the rent of the small apartment where he lives with his mother (R$ 100,00); part of the installment of a 14' TV (R$ 32,00); and another R$ 40,00 of other monthly expenses. After expenses, he can afford of R$ 68,00 per month for him. Although being intelligent, he has some sort of incomplete knowledge, due to the partial reading of the books and magazines while he makes copy. He has a pair of binocular, which he bought after one year of savings and he is a voyeur. His hobby is seeing his neighbors in the night, specially Silvia (Leandra Leal), for whom he has a crush. André works with the sexy Marinês (Luana Piovani), a silly beautiful young woman, who usually says that she is virgin and will only have sex with a non-smoking rich guy. One day, André is invited to an opening party in a bar, he calls Marinés, and she brings her friend Cardoso (Pedro Cardoso), initiating a friendship among them. André decides to follow Silvia, and realizes she works as vendor in a store, selling costumes for women. He decides to buy a R$ 38,00 robe-de-chambre for his mother just to get close to Silvia, but he can not afford that amount. Therefore, he makes a photocopy of a R$ 50,00 bill and gambles R$ 9,00 in the lottery, getting a change of R$ 41,00. With this money, he approaches Silvia and they become friends. This is just the beginning of one of the best Brazilian movie ever. While following with humor the saga of André to get the love of Silvia, we find comedy, drama, action and romance in this outstanding film. The direction, the performance of the cast and the screenplay full of plot points are perfect. The DVD was released on 30 March 2004, and I had pre-bought it a couple of months ago. It was really worthwhile waiting for so many days! Brazilian cinema is one of the best of the world, not in quantity, but in quality. We have excellent directors, actors and actresses. But the screenplay of this movie is amazingly good. Even a foreigner, who is aware that our minimum wage is R$ 240,00 (US$ 80,00) per month, can understand the needs of André. This is one of our greatest social problem, the unfair wealth distribution: most of our population (maybe about 70%) receives less than US$ 80,00 per month, in a country where a pair of tennis of a better trademark (like a Nike) costs US$ 80,00. The situation of André reflects the lack of perspective of most of our teenagers, who can not afford to supply their basic needs. And André has a job, lives in a simple flat with his mother in a simple suburban zone outside the slums, and has some education. The unemployment rate in Brazil is higher and higher, the salaries are lower and lower and a great part of the urban population lives in slums. It is impossible not to like this movie, recommended for all audiences. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): `O Homem Que Copiava' (`The Man Who Copied')

The Man Who Copied tells the story of a young adult attempting to break himself free from the life that society and fate has drawn for him. Andre, the protagonist, is a 19 year old Brazilian, toiling as a "photocopy operator," while pursuing his hobby – comic illustration, and a love he is not sure he can realize. The film is filled with quaint analogies of "art imitating life" and vice versa, and portrays the exterior world and the personalities that inhabit it as illustrated avatars, behind which lurk unexpected and surprising motives, dreams, and desires. It IS very similar to the film "Amelie" in this aspect. The film is a painting depicting the many shades of truth, and shows the absurdity of preconception and expectation. It is bright, uplifting, and full of exciting plot twists that will keep the viewer glued to the screen until the very end (although it starts a bit slowly).

The director uses cinematic technique to portray a fragmented world—that of Andre's existence, (as well as that of contemporary Brazil, as a whole) and attempts to scrutinize the minutiae of daily life in order to distill its essence and produce a vision of WHY we go about mundane and mechanical daily tasks, and how easily one can get caught up in a web of deception and false pretense. The photography is excellent, combining the brightness and color of South America with cutting edge editing and camera technique.

The film is also a subtle social commentary on the state of modern Brazil, illustrating the drastic economic disparity between the wealthy social elite and the pedestrian worker, yet stressing the fact that one can cross over to the other side with greater ease as technology and years advance. "The Man Who Copied" documents a class of people who live a short, but dramatically visible step above those portrayed in "City Of God," and really succeeds in drawing us into the mindset and dreams of the characters. This is a "coming of age" story, not just for its central characters, but for Brazil itself.

If you enjoy this film, I strongly suggest that you check out "City Of God," "Nine Queens," and "Amelie." All of them are foreign films (two from South America) and all share some unique common thread with this film. Highly Recommended!

I don't know why, but there is something about 'losers' that makes them more likable. Of course we like to see successful people too, but you will never have that feeling that you have to help them or take care of them like you have with people who are having a hard time. Perhaps it is because most of us know all too well what it is not to have all the money you want to spend, not having the job of your dreams,... And that's exactly the situation the main character, André, is in.

André is a nineteen year old, relatively poor kid who lives with his mother in a small apartment in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He works as a photocopier operator and in his free time he makes cartoons. When he falls in love with Silvia, a girl from the neighborhood that he spies on with a telescope, he needs money to spend in the store where she works. Money he doesn't have, but with a 50 real note and the photocopier he'll try to solve his problem. But then it all gets out of control, certainly when he decides that photocopying is not the only way of making money...

Even though André is portrayed as a criminal in the movie, you'll cheer him on to succeed in his dreams and you'll hope that he doesn't get caught or get into serious trouble. I guess that's where the power of this movie can be found in. This is an excellent portrayal of a person with the heart on the right spot, but with too little money to realize his dreams and some stupid ideas to solve that problem. And not only André has been portrayed well. His friends are interesting to follow as well. There is something about all the characters that makes you wanting to know what happens with them in the next part of the movie.

Next to the nice story and the fine characters, I also want to put some emphasis on the excellent way everything was shot. The mix of cartoon and real images makes this a special, but also very interesting movie. This certainly gives the movie something extra, something that you don't find in many other movies.

In the end I can only say that this is another fine example of the Brazilian cinema. "Cidade de Deus" (aka City of God) was an immense success, but the maker of this one certainly doesn't have to be ashamed of what he has done either. I liked it a lot and it makes me look forward to other Brazilian movies. I give it an 8/10.

I will tell you almost nothing about the plot of this film. It's too good to ruin giving away any details. I saw this film in 04 at the SF Intl. Film Festival, and of the 15 or so films I saw, this was by far the gem of gems. It's visually spectacular, clever, funny at times, you don't see it all coming as layers peel away, there's love, tension and it's truly what film making is supposed to be about. (Hollywood, take a memo!)You'd have to be a stone to not enjoy this film, and on so many levels. It is set in an industrial town in Brazil, the characters are every day people, and the lens of the camera takes you on a ride you will remember. The Director has done videos before this, and brought a very contemporary style and language to the film making process. This is not a melo-drama or dark and heavy, but it's exquisite to watch and really what film making, art-making should be about.

See it in a theater, rent it if you can, but see this film!!!