Irma Vap: O Retorno

Like me, any Brazilian who watched the play "O Mistério de Irma Vap" must have thought this was gonna be a hell of a movie. Well... it's not. Any Brazilian with a TV set at home has at least once seen those awful comedy such as "Zorra Total" and "A Praça é Nossa". Sure, you may laugh a couple of times, but you can't really say it's quality TV. And that's exactly what this particular movie is all about: third rate slapstick humor. The kind that makes you wanna choke the director until something good comes out. And I must say, what Carla Camurati did must have been pretty hard. To turn two great actors into walking disasters, I don't know how she did that. I honestly don't! Fernando Meirelles managed to get people off slums and turn them into fantastic actors. Carla Camurati did the exact opposite. She got two of my favorite actors and sucked the talent straight out of them. Now, if you wanna watch this movie, be my guest. But don't expect me not to say "I told you so" afterwards. My tip is to save yourself some cash by staying at home and watching Brazilian TV shows that equally suck.

I am a fan of movies and therefore I am quite sad in saying that IRMA VAP - O Retorno is the worst movie I have ever seen. The storyline has nothing to do with the play itself: rather, it is about a bunch of actors trying to put the play on the stage back again.

Some movies fail because the directors follow a vision that is not shared by the audience. IRMA VAP only vision, it seems to me, was to take money from the sponsors of the movie in exchange of nothing. Go see Friday the 13th, it certainly has a more deep storyline.

Avoid this movie at all costs - the original IRMA VAP play was excellent and there is no need to spoil good memories with this. The reaction of the audience at the small theater where I saw it in lebolon varied from perplexity, sleepness and anger. The only happiness I saw was when people thanked the director for limiting the suffering to 80 minutes.

This movie made laugh as I hadn't in years. It is funny, intelligent and subtle. The movie is full of references to "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" and other films. The dialogs are sparking and, above all, Marco Nanini's performances (six characters, if I counted well) are fantastic.

Some of the best moments are when Cleide (one of Marco Nanini's characters) teaches piano lessons to a young girl. The girl despises her, and she is an awful singer, so "auntie Cleide puts some perfume to calm down" (buzz, of course!).

It is a must see, if you want intelligent fun.