Lisbela e o Prisioneiro

The Brazilian film industry is growing fast, bringing to the audience outstanding stories and visuals. Lisbela e o Prisioneiro is an example of this growth. It is a hilarious "northeastern" comedy, with great performances from Selton Mello and Debora Falabella. The script also helped the actors in their performances, which is full of very funny lines. The director Guel Arraes did a superb job directing the cast and choosing his camera angles. The editing was also fast, adding a good pace to the whole movie. Another great choice was the soundtrack. It fits the story and the characters like a glove. It is definitively a must-see comedy.

Affective catharsis in every scene

The emotion, feeling, and affection that this film conveys is simply a masterpiece. Marco Nanini is simply phenomenal, in particular, but all the actors are fantastic. The script is incredible, gripping from beginning to end, and the metalanguage is delightful, in a comedy that leaves us enchanted with Brazilian cinema. Seeking our Brazilianness in Alagoas in contrast to Rio de Janeiro is also a powerful aesthetic of the film that turns the story into a myth that transcends our history and involves us once again in a temporal plot. Lisbela and the Prisoner is a recommended film in all its aspects, but mainly, it takes us to a catharsis of our bland and forgotten existence, remembered in each frame that affects us.

Amazing!

Do not waste your time with this amazingly empty, boring movie.

Comparable to the worst mass-produced Hollywood crap I've seen.

Lisbela e o Prisioneiro is a good comedy, it will certainly make you have a very good time when you see it. However, this movie is downsized by two factors: it looks like a made-for-TV feature and Débora Falabella, who plays Lisbela, is not convincing, even with the awful accent she tries to speak. The rest of the cast is excellent, a very good team of actors with an outstanding comedic timing. The screenplay (from a play by Osman Lins) has astonishing metalinguistic ideas and inserts several little black-and-white movies inside the movie, as the soundtrack is very vibrating. Quite good. 7/10

Having seen other movies by Guel Arraes, I thought this felt a little too long. He has not used the great Selton Mello to his full potential, and therefore the movie suffers a little. It was a very funny movie, don't get me wrong, but it could be shorter, more to the point. The scenes from the old movies, IMO, instead of helping the storytelling ended up boring the audience. It is definitely worth watching, if for nothing else then for Selton Mello's acting.