A crazed, unusual and funny tribute to art of motion picture, "O Bandido da Sétima Luz" doesn't have much a coherent story, it's mostly
a series of humored skits that pay tribute to several films (mostly the overrated "O Bandido da Luz Vermelha" of which many scenes and schemes
are copied; and Truffaut's amazing "Day for Night" - the famous sequence where the boy steals lobby cards at a cinema; this time he steals
lobby cards from erotic films). Paulo Caldas made an inventive, weird-looking but fun picture to be seen and not to be taken so seriously as the
title seems to indicate we're about to see a real-life story about some criminal we never heard about.
The major portion of the short relates to the title character (played by Fernando Spencer, mostly known as a short film director), who
terrorizes his victims by exposing himself - the hilarious bit where flashes himself to two school kids played by adults (Aramis Trindade and
Luis Lima), and previous the kids were sharing sex jokes told in an innocent manner. News about the bandit pop on the radio, and a famous Quincy
Jones instrumental theme keeps playing over and over (a theme that got wildly popular after its use on "Kill Bill Vol.1"). The other memorable
sequence comes from a couple performing an elaborated dance number where the woman leads the man to exhaustion.
There isn't much of a connection between the sequences, put together feels like a strange experience to be seen but it's harmless, curious
and fun to watch. What I can get from this junction of pieces put together is a way the director pays an homage to films and moments he liked
about the seventh art, like those film montages that some youtubbers create while showing their favorite films. It's simply a collage, and one
that Mr. Caldas did in a humored way. Very good. 8/10.
