Bossa Nova et vice versa

I've had this video in my armoire for many months and finally got around to watching it last night. What a complete delight it was! Quirky, interesting, sweet-natured. As a middle-aged single I particularly enjoyed the romantic plot strand involving two people of my vintage. Amy Irving is incandescent as always. This movie has a wonderfully European (okay, Brazilian) feel and sensibility. Not the usual canned Hollywood fare.

"Bossa Nova" is a fun and light hearted film about the romantic involvements of an ensemble of diverse but interconnected characters including one relationship hatched over the Internet. This charming little film features plenty of samabas, postcard panoramas of the Copacabana, and a 90 minute story which moves along quickly and will leave a smile on your face.

Most Brazilians complain that Brazilian movies only show the poverty and the arid landscapes of Northeast Brazil. I particularly think that we shouldn't conceal the sad reality of so many places in Brazil, and films like "Central Station" and "City of God" are brilliant in their own right. But we can't deny that there should be more Brazilian movies out there showing all the beauty from this country, and "Bossa Nova" is one of those rare movies.

Director Bruno Barreto ("Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands") doesn't try to start a socio-political speech here. He cast his own wife Amy Irving as a charming American lady who teaches English in Rio, and falls in love with one of her students, a lawyer played by mature leading man Antonio Fagundes. Barreto's intention was to make a romantic comedy in Rio de Janeiro, dedicated to/inspired by Tom Jobim and François Truffaut. Not an art-house flick, not an Oscar movie. Just an enjoyable love story with great music and beautiful landscapes. And he succeeded. Far from being a masterpiece, "Bossa Nova" is a lovely film that should be seen by anyone who'd like to spend some pleasant 95 minutes, watching a not so popular (at least, not as it should be) side of this unique country. 7.5/10.

Warning: All cynics should avoid this movie like the plague!!! Full of contrivances and cliches, ridden with all the typical plot elements of any kind of ensemble romance piece, this film on the outset seems like nothing new. But there's just something about it I couldn't let go of-maybe it was the beautiful Rio de Janeiro backdrop that this film is set against. Maybe it's the opportunity to see Amy Irving once again in all her glory. I don't know which, but the lady should definitely be in more movies, especially in ones where her husband directs her and therefore gives her the best role and makes her the most sympathetic in the film. Irving stars as Mary Ann Simpson, an English teacher in Rio who teaches classes by night and private students by day. Across the hall from her classes is the shop of an elderly tailor, whose lawyer son Pedro Paulo (Antônio Fagundes) is helping his father get out of an alimony fix that involves a much younger wife. One night Pedro Paulo runs into our heroine on the elevator, and love at first sight is born. Right away he forgets about Tania, the ex-wife (Débora Bloch) he was having trouble letting go of, and goes after this mysterious new woman in his life. Along the sidelines there are plots that involve Irving's student Nadine (Drica Moraes) and her online romance with a SoHo artist `Gary', and another regarding the lawyer's intern Sharon (Giovana Antonelli) and her romance with both her boss' brother Roberto and the famous soccer player Acacio (Alexandre Borges), who also happens to be taking private English lessons from Mary Ann. All these lines cross and meet and even out in perfect form, and yet somehow at its most typical the film manages to be at its most enjoyable, possibly because Barreto has such a good time entertaining his audience that one can't help but dive right in. Worth a good look.

OK, so the Rio de Janeiro "Bossa Nova" shows us is not the real Rio. So the movie has no poor, no hunger, no favelas, no political unrest. Is there a law written somewhere that says films have an obligation to show all of that? No. The people who made "Bossa Nova" very self-consciously steered away from the grit to concentrate on the romantic state of mind of the characters, surrounding them with gorgeous locales and a dazzling soundtrack filled with Brazilian classics, which is exactly right for the story. Amy Irving is absolutely enchanting as the protagonist, showing the kind of irresistible innocent charm she exercised in "Crossing Delancey" and "Yentl". Granted, the film gets a bit silly at times, but if you're willing to suspend your disbelief and go with the flow, buy the coincidences and accept the magic, the final result is a decidedly seductive romantic comedy, the kind they rarely make anymore. I'm a guy and I loved this movie, and I'll bet money there isn't a woman out there who won't like it at least as much as I did. Personally, I saw this on a studio-released tape before it opened in theaters and will pay to see it again on the big screen to take in the gorgeous widescreen cinematography and the fabulous music as they were meant to be experienced.