Lisbela e o Prisioneiro

Before anything, I must say that in despite of the fact that I'm Brazilian, I usually don't like Brazilian movies. They are poor and weak. But this one surprise me.

Technically the movie it's a crap. In both, the script and the scenes in self.

But the plot is involving and fun. The performance of actors was very very good and the timing was perfect. One thing that this movie is not is boring. It was fun and really was able of catch my attention all over it.

Still, one thing bother me huge time on the plot: For God's sake, the state of Espirito Santo it's NOT on Northeast! Wake up dudes! The movie was pretty nice, but watch out for the littles holes on the plot. In this case, a HUGE mistake.

I give 5 from 10 to this movie.

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.

Leléu Antônio da Anunciação (Selton Mello) is a con man who travels through small Brazilian towns, scamming the people and sleeping with the townswomen.

When he makes the mistake of sleeping with the wife of a hit man's and is caught, Leléu barely gets away with his life. Quickly, he moves on to another town, Vitória de Santo Antão, where he meets and falls in love, for the first time, with Lisbela (Débora Falabella). The daughter of the Police Chief, Lisbela is a sweet girl who enjoys watching movies and usually relates life to the world of films.

Leléu has many problems to juggle: The hit-man, Frederic Evandro (Marco Nanini), also known as the Candlelighter, is hot on his trail to kill him; Frederic's wife, Inaura (Virginia Cavendish), claims to be in love with him and has followed him; and Lisbela is engaged to be married to someone else.

Some scenes are a little too much, too over the top, but overall Lisbela e o Prisioneiro (Lisbela and the Prisoner) is enjoyable.

In the country of Northeast of Brazil, Leléu (Selton Mello) is a nomad rascal, traveling through different small towns, cheating people and having one night stand with the local women. While escaping from Inaura (Virgínia Cabendish), who has felt in love with him after a brief affair, and her cuckold husband, the hit man Frederico Evandro (Marcos Nanini), who wants to kill him, Leléu arrives in a small town. There, he meets Lisbela (Débora Falabella), the daughter of Tenente Guedes (André Mattos) and a romantic film lover, who is engaged of Douglas (Bruno Garcia) and is going to get married with him, and, like in a movie with happy end, they fall in love for each other.

"Lisbela e o Prisioneiro" is a delightful romantic comedy, supported by funny characters, situations, expressions and sayings very typical in the country of Brazil. I am not sure whether foreigners would appreciate or understand the richness of our national culture in this movie, but the story certainly reaches persons of different social classes in my country. The cast and direction are excellent and the music score is outstanding, highlight the song "Você não me Ensinou a te Esquecer" ("You Have not Taught me How to Forget You"), of Caetano Veloso. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Lisbela e o Prisioneiro" ("Lisbela and the Prisoner")

Once again Guel Arraes and Jorge Furtado did it !

Lisbela e o Prisioneiro tells a story in the fifties of a young girl that loves american movies and a trevelling popular artist. Lisbela dreams with hollywood love stories and her story goes like this. Lisbela shows to the audience all movies clichés, but it doesn't mind, the audience loves clichés.

Smart dialogues, fast editing (more than 2200 cuts) and superb acting makes this film a real enjoyment for everyone.

Highly recommended