A film review: "Ponte Aérea" [2015, Brazil]

Julia Rezende's romantic drama "Ponte Aérea" [Eng. Title: Air Bridge] is about a modern-day long-distance relationship that develops between a young couple living in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo respectively.









Amanda (Letícia Colin) and Bruno (Caio Blat) meet by chance when their flight to São Paulo gets diverted to a different airport due to bad weather. Coming from vastly different backgrounds, they were otherwise quite unlikely to have crossed paths; while she's an ambitious executive in a major ad agency steadily climbing up the corporate ladder in São Paulo, he's the laid-back creative-type still figuring out what to do with life in down town Rio.

A one-night stand in the hotel they're accommodated in will lead to further 'chance' encounters between the two in both São Paulo and Rio, and as Amanda gets to know Bruno better, a tentative romance blossoms. Bruno, visiting São Paulo to reconnect with his estranged but now bedridden father will learn that he also has a half brother young enough to be his son, and before he could come to terms with it, the little boy will become his responsibility.

All this is big change for Bruno, and when Amanda declares her interest in helping him build a career, it becomes too much for him to take, as he feels burdened by others' expectations. He disappears for a while, and refuses to answer Amanda's calls and frantic messages.

After holding a successful show of his own artworks, Bruno meets Amanda again at an airport lounge, just as they had met for the very first time - by chance, and just as they rued missed opportunities in nurturing what they had going, they also leave a door open for reconciliation and a possible reunion. I'm sorry if I've thrown away an explicit spoiler while describing the storyline, but I could see this coming from miles away and wasn't at all surprised when it ended the way it did. It is a typical mainstream film with a mainstream ending. But I have no doubt that some would love the film to bits - after all, it has some rather likeable faces, featured in interesting locales, and boasts some pretty decent production values.

DVD Purchase Link [NTSC]

 

The Nudity: Letícia Colin and Caio Blat
There is brief nudity from the couple during and after some sex scenes.



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A review: "Bonitinha Mas Ordinária" [2013 Brazil]

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Moacyr Góes tries to update Nelson Rodrigues' torrid play "Bonitinha Mas Ordinária" [Eng. Title: Pretty, but Ordinary] for the twenty first century, but one couldn't help wondering whether it was a futile exercise...


It's a tragic story of seventeen year old Maria Cecília (Letícia Colin), the daughter of powerful businessman Dr. Werneck (Gracindo Júnior), after she had been raped by five black men in the nightclub of a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Her parents decide to get her married, and ask their manager Peixoto (Leon Góes) to find a husband who could remain subservient to them. He chooses Edgar (Leon Góes), a simple man in their company who'd worked his way up after joining as an 'Office Boy' eleven years ago.


Even though Edgar had been trying to win the affections of the rather stubborn neighbour Ritinha (Leandra Leal) - and his is still a work in progress, he's hesitant to accept the proposal because of the Wernecks' attempt to 'buy' him by dangling dowry-like financial rewards. But when he meets Maria Cecília and learns about her rape ordeal first-hand, he begins to fall in love with her as well. The dilemma presented between Edgar's principles and genuine feelings of love towards both women will be resolved when additional facts concerning Ritinha, Maria Cecília, and Peixoto come to light...


The issue with the film is that it appears outdated for today's Brazil, and most certainly for Rio; marriage and prostitution seem to be the only viable prospects available for women, rich people are shown to be doing whatever they want as if it were some feudal society, and while class barriers and racial stereotyping still exist, in reality it is a whole lot more subtle than how it's shown here.


But my main problem with the film is the quality of the production itself, which has more in common with a daytime telenovela than proper cinema. It was disappointing to see that Moacyr Góes' screenplay has not been fully developed, especially since I'd thoroughly enjoyed his earlier film O Homem Que Desafiou o Diabo. The quality and style of editing is poor, because it snuffs out whatever drama the actors get to project. While Leandra Leal gives a fine performance as she always does, the rest are at best passable. For a more convincing interpretation of the story, I'd recommend the older version of the film (Bonitinha Mas Ordinária ou Otto Lara Rezende, from 1981 - itself a remake).

DVD Order Link [NTSC]

 

The Nudity: Letícia Colin, Beatriz Bertu, Lisa Fávero, and Patrícia Elizardo

Pretty Letícia Colin appears nude in three scenes, and all three are about the rape as seen from different viewpoints - the 'official' version of events, Maria Cecília's, and later Peixoto's. Beatriz Bertu, Lisa Fávero, and Patrícia Elizardo - they play the younger sisters of Ritinha - appear briefly nude during a scene when all the sisters are raped at a party organised by Wernek.



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