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Me You Them

Me You Them

List Price: $29.95
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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A woman with a libido
Review: A Brazilian woman in her mid 30s is set to marry a man--she's pregnant by him--and he dumps her. She then finds another man with a house whom, she figures, can care for her child. She marries him. But, as it happens, he's lazy and wants her to wait on him hand and foot. Still, being a good wife and all, she engages in connubial bliss with him. She's pregnant again. Kid number two. But her husband is not the warmest of people.

The husband has a friend who's at the house quite a bit, who's much warmer than the husband and the woman becomes interested in the friend. They enjoy each other deeply and soon she's pregnant yet again. OK, so because you can count, of course, by now she's up to 3 kids. Now the friend is really nice and warm, et cetera, but he's not what you would call sexy.

OK. Then in the fields where she works, she meets another guy and this one IS sexy. Oh yeah. So they go to an isolated part of the field and enjoy each other deeply. (Believe me, there's a LOT of enjoying deeply going on in this flick). Then, you got it, she's preggers again. Kid number four.

OK, so the friend--who's already living in the house--now has to share the living space not only with the original husband and the woman, but also with this new sexy guy AND four kids. So now we're up to, let's see, eight people. That's a lot of people for a small house in rural Brazil. Oh yeah.

That's the story in a nutshell. It was no doubt made as a cry for women's independence--i.e., see, a woman can do these things too; it's not just a man who loves sex and can have it with whoever he wants.

The point is made repeatedly. I have no beef with women's lib or a woman being independent or a woman enjoying deeply. I just think a much better movie could have been made with this theme. The two stars are for the cinematography which is excellent, and for the superb music by Gilberto Gil. Buy the soundtrack; it's excellent.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pay attention: this is not about libido
Review: Brazil has always had a fine movie production, these last years maimed by lack of money, some bad productions and unbelief from the local population - concerning the movies, not the country. Even so, "Cidade de Deus - City of God", "Central station - Central do Brasil" and "Behind the sun - Abril despedaçado", being very good productions, made the brazilian movie industry be seen by the international audiences again as a potential region for good entertainment and excellent movies.

"Me you them - Eu tu eles" follows the settings chosen by Walter Salles in his two masterpieces: the brazilian northeastern region, land of many natural beauties, but also a land of poverty, dryness, abandoned by local authorities and with a lifestyle that has not evolved in more than a hundred years. The main character is Darlene - Regina Casé; the movie tells her story, from being abandoned in her wedding to living with three men - Lima Duarte, Stenio Garcia and Luiz Vasconcelos - and four children in the same house.

For those of you who don't know them, Stenio Garcia and especially Lima Duarte are two of the foremost brazilian actors, with many natural acting resources, having played hundreds of different characters along their careers. Regina Casé is a funny woman with a solid comedy and hostess career. The casting is very good, and they portrait real situations in the screen with astonishing accuracy. The cinematography is very well researched and produced, and many international viewers - as well as brazilian ones, in fact - gasp in wonder at the sight of the dry and barren beauty of the settings.

But if you have seen this movie and think it's a light comedy about a promiscuous woman, you're completely wrong. This is a life-portrait about power, and what you can do to revert a low situation. Darlene cannot openly confront Osias, her first husband. He's powerful, old, respected, has a thundering voice and commands at will. She seduces Zezinho, Osias' cousin, and Ciro, the field-worker, not because she wants to have plain sex, but because that's the way she has to show everyone that, in the end, she will get what she wants, which is to have a good life. That's so true that when she leaves the house, Osias runs after her and tells her to go back.

So, to analyse this movie with such shallowness is, to say the least, temerary. This is not an action flick, it's a deep portrait of lives in a forgotten land, with touches of drama, comedy and love, such as life really is.

Grade 8.2/10

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: So many men, so much time.
Review: Darlene de Lima is jilted at the church with her infant son, so she gets on a truck and leaves the poor village of her mother. Three years later she returns, marries a prosperous old godger, and settles down to support him as he relaxes, endlessly, with his old radio in his hammock. Unwittingly, he never gives her any attention, so one by one, she finds men who adore her free, sensual spirit and move in with Darlene and her husband. This is a fun film based on a real person in Brazil. An unexpected little gem.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: :-)
Review: Delicious film with great photography, wonderfull soundtrack by Gilberto Gil and excelent performs of Casé, Lima Duarte and Stenio Garcia, try it!!!!!!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Totally Tasteless!!
Review: Do not waste your time on this loser about an irresponsible woman who has kid after kid & then wonders why she is poor! The only thing you can say is "Please--somebody get her to a birth control clinic fast before she has another one!"

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A fine member of Brazilian cinematic collections
Review: How often do you watch a movie in which the main character is a not very attractive woman in her thirties AND she has three men in her life? If you answer pretty frequently, this movie is not for you. I have to admit that the premise of the movie is nothing short of incredibly daring. Yet, it is not something extraordinary.

After watching Central Station and a couple other Brazilian movies, I wonder if poverty is a key ingredient in Brazilian cinema. However, these films are hardly exploitative and pity-inducing. This is especially true with 'Me, You and Them'. Poverty is a strong backdrop to this movie, however, the film does not allow it to overtake the overall tone of the film. Behind the poverty, there is a prevailing sense of life. The richness of life exists whether one is rich or poor. This film does well in presenting this aspect while telling an ordinary story about a life of ordinary woman in perhaps an extraordinary circumstance.

The movie does not employ fancy plotlines. There are not many peaks and valleys within the story and it is pretty consistent throughout. In fact, a person unwilling to take a peek at somebody else's life, as mundane as it might be, would probably fall asleep before the end of the first half of the film. In its simplicity, though, lies a beauty. Much of the beauty lies with the fact that the film is impartial and holds back its verdicts. Darlene's conduct might be seen as immoral, then again looking at her circumstances, couldn't it be justified? The film is unwilling to pass any judgments. Even the ending does not suggest much, avoiding the cause and effects type of storytelling.

The cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking. Like every other aspect of the film, it doesn't seek for the grandeurs. As a result, there is a certain raw, stark quality to the images while still capturing the beauty of arid Brazil.

If you are a lover of international cinema, you do not want to miss this one. You might finish the movie none the wiser, however, you will definitely be 'cinematically richer'.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A fine member of Brazilian cinematic collections
Review: How often do you watch a movie in which the main character is a not very attractive woman in her thirties AND she has three men in her life? If you answer pretty frequently, this movie is not for you. I have to admit that the premise of the movie is nothing short of incredibly daring. Yet, it is not something extraordinary.

After watching Central Station and a couple other Brazilian movies, I wonder if poverty is a key ingredient in Brazilian cinema. However, these films are hardly exploitative and pity-inducing. This is especially true with 'Me, You and Them'. Poverty is a strong backdrop to this movie, however, the film does not allow it to overtake the overall tone of the film. Behind the poverty, there is a prevailing sense of life. The richness of life exists whether one is rich or poor. This film does well in presenting this aspect while telling an ordinary story about a life of ordinary woman in perhaps an extraordinary circumstance.

The movie does not employ fancy plotlines. There are not many peaks and valleys within the story and it is pretty consistent throughout. In fact, a person unwilling to take a peek at somebody else's life, as mundane as it might be, would probably fall asleep before the end of the first half of the film. In its simplicity, though, lies a beauty. Much of the beauty lies with the fact that the film is impartial and holds back its verdicts. Darlene's conduct might be seen as immoral, then again looking at her circumstances, couldn't it be justified? The film is unwilling to pass any judgments. Even the ending does not suggest much, avoiding the cause and effects type of storytelling.

The cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking. Like every other aspect of the film, it doesn't seek for the grandeurs. As a result, there is a certain raw, stark quality to the images while still capturing the beauty of arid Brazil.

If you are a lover of international cinema, you do not want to miss this one. You might finish the movie none the wiser, however, you will definitely be 'cinematically richer'.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Love in the Third World
Review: I haven't seen many Brazilian films, but every one I've seen really blows apart--really challenges--your morals. I claim that I can watch this with an open mind, in order to objectively judge the outcome, the impact to each of their lives. Does each character find meaning in his/her life?

One aspect of the plot that is interesting, is Darlene the main character bears each man in her life a son, except for her legal husband. This has some fullfilling effect on these men. Her husband on the other hand, emasculated in a sense, in the end does what he can to preserve some vestige of his manhood and status.

I love movies that take me somewhere. This movie is beautifully shot, yielding many scenes of its stark beauty, but it by no means romanticizes. The setting is of a vast dry land. It is hot. They live in mud houses (Of course this appealed to me in look and practicality.). Everyone sleeps in hammocks.

The people, though very poor and unglamorous--to me this made them genuinely beautiful--have a rough life. Darlene, the main character must work, even when pregnant harvesting in the cane fields.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Love in the Third World
Review: I haven't seen many Brazilian films, but every one I've seen really blows apart--really challenges--your morals. I claim that I can watch this with an open mind, in order to objectively judge the outcome, the impact to each of their lives. Does each character find meaning in his/her life?

One aspect of the plot that is interesting, is Darlene the main character bears each man in her life a son, except for her legal husband. This has some fullfilling effect on these men. Her husband on the other hand, emasculated in a sense, in the end does what he can to preserve some vestige of his manhood and status.

I love movies that take me somewhere. This movie is beautifully shot, yielding many scenes of its stark beauty, but it by no means romanticizes. The setting is of a vast dry land. It is hot. They live in mud houses (Of course this appealed to me in look and practicality.). Everyone sleeps in hammocks.

The people, though very poor and unglamorous--to me this made them genuinely beautiful--have a rough life. Darlene, the main character must work, even when pregnant harvesting in the cane fields.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: slow moving and boring
Review: I've seen quite a few brazilian flicks. To prove the point at hand, it's just obvious and very slow moving. The plot is not very intriguing.. not what I expected.


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