O Xangô de Baker Street

Who still doubts Brazilian cinema is in great shape? After great success such as "Behind the Sun", "Central Station" and "Four Days in September" here comes "O Xangô de Baker Street" (I'm not sure it's been released out Brazil and Portugal, has it?).

The movie is based on the novel written by Jô Soares, one of Brazilian best humorists. If you don't like comedies, don't worry. This is also a movie with action, mystery, romance and a surprising end. It's worth watching.

The cast is great. We just can't hold our laughs during the funny scenes and it's impossible to avoid take a deep breath as we watch the thrilling ones. really good direction and scenery.

My rate 9/10

When you have good writing, you don't need that much to have a good film. And this film has excellent writing. I'm talking about the dialog lines, they are perfect in how they evoke the despicable little bourgeois society of the imperial Rio de Janeiro, which actually mirrors the contemporary mentality of the Brazilian (and Portuguese!) people. Jô Soares is a good comedy writer, one who tackles grotesque society themes and contradictions, and remakes them into interesting cartoons.

He is not a true screenwriter, and his great experience (and quality) is as a television writer, which basically means he writes episodes, without a large form. But here the episodes he wrote in the novel work because he cleverly used a few story elements that binds everything together, and those elements are themselves funny in a layered way, meaning that if you know something about Holmes, Jack the Ripper, and Caipirinha, you will smile at the thing.

So absolutely everything is a joke. The "crimes" are a cartoon, the Stradivarius bit is social critic, the serial killer is funny, and Sherlock's endless and pointless deductions are as awkward and ridiculous as the very situations he investigates. If Holmes was already in its origin a cartoon of a certain ultra logic way to see the world, than this Holmes is the cartoon of a cartoon. Watson is what is supposed to be. The Ripper connection is intelligent, and his off voice narration completes the binding of every loose comedy episode. The killer literally writes the story, this is always a reliable device.

An important note is how the filmmakers invest the film with a sense of placement. Porto, Portugal, working as Rio's historical center in the XIXth century. There are overall clever locations, and one in particular; the bookshop, it's a great space. It is a real bookshop, located in the center of Porto. It has a great serpent stair, which could actually have been better used, but the space is invested with a romantic eclectic feel. It has a mystery appeal to it. Actually it might have been used as a model for some Harry Potter's sets (Rawling lived in Porto). I appreciated the choices.

My opinion: 4/5 watch this.

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I had my doubts if this movie would be good given the success of novel and the Jo Soares' book rhythm. But I was really surprised by the adaptation. Miguel Faria Jr. did a great direction and the cast was amazing. Joaquim de Almeida is great as the goofy Sherlock Homes and Marco Nannini was at his finest. The art direction is the best in a brazilian movie ever. But still something was missing. This story on the screen just lost its style. A great two-hour spent though, worth the ticket.

If possible, I'd give it a 7 1/2.

Jô Soares, famous Brazilian comic actor and writer, created the most unlikely Sherlock Holmes. Joaquim de Almeida performs beautifully with his perfect British accent.

The set is perfect in all details showing a fantastic production

without concessions of any kind. I had the luck of witness filming of some scenes in Porto where minor details were of great concern to the wardrobe and make-up team. Also in the re-creation of many artefacts used in the set.

Although a comedy, this movie never falls to the "easy laugh" thus creating subtle cross-references such as the birth of famous Brazilian cocktail 'Caipirinha' or explaining the myth of Jack the Ripper.

A "must see" for everyone looking for a good time and also to learn

some historical facts about Brazilian independence from Portugal as well as the style of living in the late 1800's. One must keep in mind that Portugal (followed by Brasil) was the first country to abolish slavery.

I have read the book and liked it very much. I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes and I was very much amused by the book, O Xangô de Baker Street, written by Jô Soares, whom I am always pleased to hear and see on TV. I laughed a lot when I read the book. It's quite good. I also liked the film, but I must admit I prefer the book, though I always think it is silly to compare literature with cinema, because they are two different art forms. The one thing I can say is that I laughed more reading the book than I did watching the movie. I think the timing in the picture is not very good. The director/ editor almost always interrupted the joke with a cut. But still the film has lots of jokes and it is very funny. The image is beautiful as well as the sets, costumes and so on.

The actors are superb - all of them. Joaquim de Almeida and Maria de Medeiros are especially good in it. Another one I liked a lot was the one who played the murderer. When I read the book that was almost exactly as I pictured the murderer to be. Anyway I recommend the film to every one and give it 7 out of 10.