Director(s): Laís Bodanzky
Writer(s): Luiz Bolognesi, Heloisa Prieto, Gilberto Dimenstein
Actor(s): Francisco Miguez, Denise Fraga, Fiuk, José Carlos Machado, Gabriela Rocha, Caio Blat
Production Co.: Warner Bros. Entertainment
Country: Brazil
Year: 2010
Language and subtitle information: In Portuguese
Format: DVD
[ratings]
Summary:
Supplemental Materials:
The Best Things in the World steps away from the socioeconomic themes most often found in Brazilian cinema and tells a genuine, touching story of the transformations a teen must undergo in order to survive in his adolescent world. The protagonist, having been dealt overwhelming news, struggles to adjust to his new life, while trying to find love and change his school for the better.
As melhores coisas do mundo is an interesting and well-made film. The director, Bodanzky, effectively captures the personal struggles of the high school protagonists and makes you feel their emotions. The characters are well-developed and have great depth; Mano and his family serve as an excellent focus for the story. The cinematography is acceptable but not excellent or groundbreaking. Overall, I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend it to anyone interested in middle class youth in Brazil.
“As Melhores Coisas do Mundo” is a film that tactically illustrates the ‘coming of age’ and harsh universal reality of high school. The story is about overcoming prejudices and finding personal contentment, despite the imperfections. Through the film, director Lais Bodansy shows the other side of Brazil that is not constantly exploited and exported through filmes like “Cidade de deus” and “Tropa de elite,” a side that is not a spectacle of violence and an ‘aesthetic of hunger’, the side in qhich any person who graduated from high school within this past decade can relate. The protagonist, Pedro, is an allegorical representation of the spectators because he is an authentic teenager. He is immature, insecure, fragile, hormonal, and impulsive, a prototype of his age that transcends racial and national borders. I recommend this film to anyone who wants to watch a story of youthfulness, prejudice and maturity.
A film centered in a middle class neighborhood, it follows the teenage crises that comes with love, rejection, and humility in a high school in Brazil. The film surfaces the emotional turmoil of achieving social status in high school. Out of all the films we’ve watched in my Portuguese class, this one is by far the easiest to connect to, as the teenage crisis that it demonstrates is transferable across many cultures. It is an exciting drama to watch as well as thought-provoking.