Cão Sem Dono

This is a kind of movie that could be much better if it was more carefully made. OK, the plot isn't wonderful, but there were some good dialogues which, if better developed, could save the film. The main actor does a good job, but in fact nearly everyone seems to be playing people like themselves... The big problem was that there were too many pointless scenes which made me feel that the director had a plot to make a short movie but tried to make a long one... But the worst part of the movie is certainly the end. I don't know how's the story in the book which movie was taken from, but it's one of the most ridiculous endings I ever saw, and I think probably everyone who watched it will agree with me.

In Porto Alegre, the unemployed Ciro (Júlio Andrade) has a dull life in a simple apartment with a nameless stray dog that he had found on the streets. Ciro is supported by his parents and works every now and then in translation of Russian. When he meets the aspiring actress Marcela (Tainá Müller), who dreams on traveling to other places, they immediately fall in love for each other. However, Marcela has a lymphoma and travels for a treatment, and alone Marcelo becomes depressed and returns to his parents home.

"Cão Sem Dono" is a nice movie, very well acted and with a realistic story disclosed in a extremely slow pace. However, the weak screenplay does not develop well the characters, and the viewer ends the movie, for example, not sure about what Ciro might have studied (we know that he has college education and occasionally works in translations of Russian only, but we do not know his profession) or whether Marcela is an aspiring actress or model. The dialogs are very poor, there are some ellipses and the story is quite pointless, with an open conclusion. Last but not the least, the comparison of the situation of Ciro and his stray dog never works. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Cão Sem Dono" ("Stray Dog")

I've always been a fan of Beto Brant's movies, but I've to say that the man is taking his work into new dimensions. "Crime Delicado" was an amazing film, but Cão Sem Dono has blown off the charts, and for that I give a few reasons:

1. Mise en scene: perfectly done dialogues that sometimes looked as if you were watching a documentary.

2. Acting: amazing actors unknown to the general public. A fact that alone states that Brazil has lots to offer;

3. Regionalism: To see Porto Alegre and the gaúchos depicted in a movie is to get to know a little bit more about Brazil and its immense cultural diversity. The slangs, the habits, and the characters of another great metropolitan area in the country;

4. Literature: Brant shows great technique on adapting the work of a young Brazilian writer, Daniel Galera. While many Brazilians still avoid reading, Brant believes strongly that through great literature he can achieve great things.

Beto Brant assumes the fact that he lives in Brazil now. He looks no further but to this moment in time, optimizing what this society has and no one wants to see it: PURE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations, keep filming, keep the rhythm! Keep charging!

Indeed, I was expecting a movie with different characteristics - maybe more like a Hollywoodian movie -, I had the impression that I was watching a Dogma 95's film. I think that wasn't the proposal of the movie be a popular film, and probably won't pleasure most of people, however is intelligent, based on a well done story, that retracts in a right way modern relations between people. Nevertheless the film lacks of dynamism in some moments and uses unnecessary scenes of sex sometimes. Anyway I'm sure that is an important movie for Rio Grande do Sul's cinema, congratulations to the cast for their performances and to the staff due to the good work in spite of the available resources.

Brazil has produced some strong efforts on the cinema front as of late. I am a semi-fluent Portuguese speaker who enjoys watching a lot of Brazilian Cinema to enhance my understanding of the language and culture.

With that being said, this movie bored me to tears. The technique used to tell the "story" makes this feel more like voyeurism than a film. I felt like I was trapped in a room with the most boring person in Brazil. It seems like most of the movie consists of countless minutes of uncomfortable silence and worthless dialog that has nothing to do with the story. Therefore it drags and seems much longer than it actually is.

The director intentionally wanted us to feel like we were sitting in the corner quietly observing. Therefore, there is a total lack of any kind of a soundtrack. In my opinion this really brings the film down. I feel that the director totally dropped the ball by choosing to deliver the story in this manner. This technique may have worked with colorful characters and colorful story. However, we get neither in this film.

The best thing I can say is that the actors did their part. However, superb acting is not enough to save this bore-fest. We could have also done without the horrendous, off key, bedroom singing performance by Marcela.