O Cheiro do Ralo

This movie is very uncommon for Brazilian productions. It is based on a very interesting plot, regarding a man and his obsessions (the smell of a sewer, the butt of a restaurant waitress), and how he deals with different people who want to sell all kind of crazy things.

Although the movie may seem superficial and shallow at first, it actually has subtle messages portraying a desperate and lonely man, who tries to find relief in the material world, but realizes that the problem is within himself.

Finally, I would recommend this movie to everyone who wants to see another kind of Brazilian films, one which is not pure drama or pure comedy, and which tells a story in a very different way.

Usually, when it comes to Brazilian films, it is common the themes which lies about the rich culture that shape this country or, as has happened recently, addressing the issue of urban violence. Therefore, these issues are also on the films that most Brazilians are recognized internationally. "Drained" is a different case, because it shows a Brazilian film that is not necessarily on a Brazilian theme. It tells a story about the complexity of human relations in their most obscure side, making a portrait full of dark humor. Talks about the way we transform everything into things with prices to be paid for. Selton Mello is perfect in the film, as well as the ambiance and direction. A surreal story, with great moments of humor, is what awaits the spectator of "Drained".

Lourenço (Selton Mello) is a dealer that buys belongings of needy people by a lower price to profit reselling them. He is a deranged, cold and selfish man that sees people like objects for sale, exploiting their needs. When he meets the waitress of a cheap diner, he falls in love for her butt and does not know what to do when she shows affection for him. He believes that the smell of the sewer strainer of his bathroom is blurring his mind and is a gateway to hell, but refuses to pay for its repair. When a junkie client abused by the power of his money reacts, the world of the controller Lourenço begins to fall apart.

"O Cheiro do Ralo" is a weird and unpleasant tale of the insanity process of a man completely obsessed by the power of his money. The Kafkaesque story is intriguing but unfortunately goes nowhere and has a pointless end. Selton Mello, as usual, has a magnificent performance but the situations are repetitive and this low-budget Brazilian movie is too long. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Cheiro do Ralo" ("The Smell of the Sewer Strainer")

I felt odd about the movie. I know deep down I both hated it and loved it and I certainly can't stop thinking about it. It really is a sarcastic masterpiece, but very hard to watch. I didn't find it particularly funny in the spots where the audience laughed the most, and often felt horrified. I haven't read the book, which I'm sure is fantastic. Being lucky enough to have lived in Brazil for 7 years in the past, (e sim, eu falo Portuguese), I felt more and more the satiric edge of the main character as a metaphor for the worst things about Brazil lovingly portrayed by a master-- the obsession with the bunda over the female (that scene where he doesn't recognise he is not speaking to his favorite waitress till she turns around was incredible); the buying of worthless, often superstitious items over things really of value (100 rieis for a Stradavarius!?); the man constantly saying, "that smell is not from me, it's the drain;" (that line is especially deep and frightening and I understood it well); him giving all that money for the gun in a scene that looks like robbery; the fake father (leg and eye);his horrible treatment of the weak and helpless and poor; the growing obsession with the smell of his own excrement. I know the movie is a masterpiece-- the trouble is its view of the world through that glass eye is one I, too, would prefer to leave in the next room, perhaps.

I just saw this in Salt Lake City at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was both shocked, amazed, delighted and disgusted by it. It is some kind of weird masterpiece. It's based on a book and the filmmakers at the Q & A said it was very faithfully adapted.

Though the story focuses on the obsessions of its pawn shop owning protagonist, namely a pretty girl's ass, a smelly backed-up bathroom drain, and a glass eye, it still manages to be full of intelligent, thought-provoking ideas and themes.

I really loved this film because it is so unbelievably original and fresh, both in its content and with its form. The viewer never knows where it's going to go as it twists and turns through its strange little storyline.