Director: Marcos Jorge
Writers: Marcos Jorge, Fabrizio Donvito, Lusa Silvestre, Cláudia da Natividade
Actor(s): João Miguel, Fabiula Nascimento, Babu Santana
Production Co.: Zencrane Filmes, Indiana Production Company
Country: Brazil, Italy
Year: 2008
Language: In Portuguese with optional English, French, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish subtitles.
Format: DVD
Summary: A naive immigrant arrives in São Paulo broke and hungry. A restaurant owner lets him stay in a spare room in exchange for cooking and cleaning. Has Nonato found his niche in life in the kitchen?
I really enjoyed watching Estomago. The film describes the protagonist’s life before and after he goes to prison. A restaurant owner recognizes the protagonist’s cooking talent and takes him in. Later on the protagonist goes to jail for murder. He survives and gains social capital by cooking for his fellow inmates. As his social capital increases, problems begin to arise within the cell. The film discusses the social cannibalism in society and how it transcends into prison life through the use of food. It is really interesting watching this movie because you can see how social dynamics play out both in and out of prison, and the way people gain social capital.
I thought this movie was pretty disturbing. The beginning of this movie makes it seem like a happy movie, especially with the music, but it got progressively more disturbing. I was literally screaming when he fried the ants. Also, the cannibalism part was alarming. However, I thought the dark parts of this film are what makes it interesting. I also liked how it showed both parts of his life simultaneously.
I found Estomago very interesting in that we don’t fully understand why there are two worlds for our main character Nonato. It is not until the end of the film that one understands the true timing of all the events that his prison years are after he has murdered Iria and Giovani. Although disturbing at parts, the movie did a great job in describing the power dynamics of money and social status. The film portrays the world as a cynical “dog eat dog” world, where everyone does their best to achieve success at the expense of others as evinced by Iria, Giovanni, and Nonato.
I truly enjoyed watching this film. I liked witnessing Nonato’s transformation throughout the film. He went from someone without a home and money to a very experienced cook. I also enjoyed how Nonato narrated his story from the present looking back at how he ended in prison and his situation with the other inmates.The ending, itself, was very unexpected because Nonato did not seem like a person capable of murder and capable of cooking human meat. Overall, “Estômago” was different than most other films I’ve seen, which made the story that much more entertaining to watch.
I found this movie to be very interesting and it kept my attention the whole time. It was inspiring to see someone go from being homeless to being very skilled in a position fate thrusted them into; however, cannibalism was a very unexpected character trait.
I enjoyed the film up until the very end, because I thought it was going to be a movie about a man–Nonato–who is able to make a living for himself with something he is passionate about (cooking)–and indeed I thought that Nonato would become very successful with his passion. It seems like Nonato’s life is continually getting better–until the very end. At that point, I found myself disgusted and repulsed by the movie–it left me with a queasy feeling. Nonetheless, the “dog eat dog” sentiment that the film conveys is theme relevant to daily reality and one that this film helps its viewers consider.
This was an enjoyable film. The film depicts the nature of gaining social capital in our world by using cannibalism as a symbol. Although dark, turning the idea of “every man for himself” or “dog eat dog” into humans eating humans forces the viewer to think about the way in which our society functions.
This movie took a little work to follow, but really made sense at the very end, with a dark ending. The film gave a very interesting input to the audience about how humans turn their animosity towards other humans. It is an outlook towards human sentiment and behavior. The film has a deeper meaning that just the story and explanation of a murderer.
A funny, twisted, melancholy film about earthly pleasures, and the dangers of falling prey to them. The film was full of surprises and João Miguel played the part of Nonato with great sensitivity.
I enjoyed this film. It had a very dark tone and interesting characters. Nonato developed a lot throughout the film. In the beginning, he had low confidence and nothing to his name. He changed throughout the film and became a person many people could admire. I like the direction the film took and how the characters changed with the movement of the film.
I thought the film was interesting. I liked the concept of showing both parts of the main character’s life simultaneously. The film showed that it’s not difficult to experience social mobility if you are willing to play dirty, and that if you are naive, people will take advantage of you. I couldn’t tell whether or not the directors wanted the audience to sympathize with the main character because he did terrible things in the movie but he was also a victim throughout. However, in the end, it can be debated he ended up better than where he started. It may even be his highest point in life despite his current circumstances. The movie is a good watch if you have the patience for it. It takes a while to get going and the fact that they show both lives simultaneously it makes you know how one half is going to end up before it gets there.
At first, I was extremely confused. I didn’t understand the scenes, which seemed to go back and forth, but it made sense as the film went along. I thought the concept of the film was interesting and very different from any other film I have watched. Like other people have said, sometimes you have to do malicious things to move up the social ladder. The ending of the film was very disturbing and it was evident that Nonato had become a completely new person. It just goes to show that society can change people for the worse.
While I thought the movie was a bit long and could have been shortened, it was extremely captivating. I enjoyed the parallel between his life as an aspiring chef to his life in prison. I was also extremely impressed by the smooth transitions both time-wise and scene-wise. Nevertheless I think that the initial flashback (at the beginning of the film) as well as the drama with Iria were a bit drawn out and could have been cut out of the movie. Overall, the artistic angles and focus on the food were extremely enticing and sometime it felt like the viewer was a part of the movie.
This film was extremely well executed. By switching between two different period’s in the main character’s life the film keeps you engaged because no one moment gets too drawn out or predictable. Furthermore, the actor himself does a great job of portraying the character. His personality has the dame duality the cinematography adopts, and the actors does a phenomenal job of using the character’s apparent innocence to hide his true depth
The two parallel stories running at the same time had the viewer feeling just the right amount of confusion and suspense to be engaged in the film at all times. I also love the music in this.
This is a fun movie to watch.This film is a story of romance, food, and the hunger to survive. You really see how the main character, Raimundo, changes over the film as a result of the experiences he faces.
The movie splits between two different stages of Raimundo´s life at the same time, so at first it´s a bit confusing, but keep watching. In the end, everything is explained.
This was a really interesting movie about a man named Nonato, who suffers a lot of unfortunate events that eventually teach him what life is about. He is toughens up and loses his initial nativity and the viewer really gets to follow along on his road to maturity. The two parallel stories playing throughout the movie between the present and the past also provides an artistic contrast. You also get a nice lesson in traditional Brazilian dishes!