A Frente Fria que a Chuva Traz

A group of five rich teenagers decide to spend a weekened partying hard in a slum that happens to have a great spot with the ocean in the background. An environment of sex, drinks, drugs, loud music but it's a place where they don't exactly fit in but it's the place they want to be for the last party of the year.

"A Frente Fria que a Chuva Traz" ("The Cold Front that the Rain Brings") deals with typical braindead and wealthy youngsters who feel the need to explore a reality different than theirs just to have some action or a feeling that they are experienced something exotic, that usual motif used by people who live on wealthy and developed places who travel to third world countries to have all the possible fun they can have, specially for doing something illegal. It's the same vibe. A series of careless acts without thinking of the consequences or failing to see the dangers that surrounds them, in this particular case the chance of facing drug dealers, criminals or rapists.

The youngsters are played by Bruna Linzmeyer, Johnny Massaro, Chay Suede, Juliana Lohmann and Marina Provenzzano, and here they act wild, rebellious, at times joking at each others expense or just enjoying a good time partying, with some small moments of introspection or some clarity of mind. Bruna's character Amsterdam is different from the rest as she's not really a member of the group since she doesn't have a weatlhy background behind her and she's the one who sees things as they are.

Unlike the loaded folks, she keeps scoring her drugs by prostituing herself to any man available, and at some points she's the one who exposes some truths to those brainless and heartless people.

The slum house they attend belongs to Gru (Flavio Bauraqui), a character who is despised by the girls whenever he tries some proximity simply because he's poor and black but everyone's happy to stay and crash at his house because there's plenty of freedom if compared to their households or any other place they could be; and there's also the security for the party, the middle aged Vitor (Mario Bortolotto) who just see things unfold, trying to not get involved with anything. The main event besides the usual routine of deprativity comes with the awaited presence of a popular singer named Raposão (Michel Melamed, one of the film's writers), a former resident of the poor community who now lives in the rich part of town after the fame conquered.

There's nothing new here, it's the kind of film that has been done before (and better) yet it has some appeal, it has some urgency in addressing certain topics and it makes a fair point of how deep down the fun and the party there's an overwhelming sense of sadness and loneliness those characters are trapped into. No meaningful relationships, it's all about filling the void and filling the emptiness of their pointless little lives. When you structure the events and the situations to later form a full view portrait of youth, you get a good film and you achieve some good thinking about it. But it's very easy to understand why most people hated the picture with its countless unlikeable characters, dire and dangerous situations that always seem to escalate to some dangerous act (the party sequence is amazing when it reaches that level of danger and tension) and a strange feeling of seeing a lifeless or pointless work. Well, there isn't much of a meaning, it's basically showing the extravagance of reckless characters who feel they are experiencing something great and unique but in fact nothing so glorious or thoughtful ever happens.

This was based on a play, so there is a source to it, and it should deviate a little from it (not sure how much was changed). A critical point with this movie comes when some dark tones and twists start to appear. It's truly awkward and one-sided that only the girls go through some tense moments (like a rape attempt or death threats) while the two dudes don't face anything at no time. The source idea could go to an extreme adaptation by adding more characters, more situations of which we could believe happening with everyone at the party. How come no criminal types invaded the party? How come the police didn't show up there? And I think that another point of contention can be the dialogues, since there isn't anything so brilliant or memorable except for lots of cursing and sexual innuendos through the whole thing. I wonder how did this worked on stage because there isn't much to present, I mean, playwrights usually develop lentghty and eloquent dialogues, and this has none of that.

Guiding us through this crazed journey is veteran director Neville D'Almeida, best remembered for his provocative films in the 1980's such "Os Sete Gatinhos" and "Rio Babilônia". In his return to filmmaking, he's quite soft and safe without exploring the usual sexual themes from his previous works and I wonder why since those characters talk a lot about the issue but don't do anything about it, just teasing one of the guys about an alleged sexual encounter with Gru.

Everybody's comfortable with their roles which makes everything somewhat enjoyable but it doesn't challenge the actors all that much. It all has the feeling of being something improvised, with everyone spewing words as each moment appears, all created on the spot (but I might be wrong). A noteable exception is Johnny Massaro, here playing a despicable character who goes from a fun mode to a sinister mode as the day moves on, and he usually plays good guys, so I was surprised in seeing something different and with plenty of rage.

It's a good film but it's not for everybody. It generates some small controversy but that's why movies exist in a way, it has to go beyond entertainment. 6/10.