Meryl Streep Movie List

More and more I fall in love with Meryl Streeps work. Lately, I am watching lots of movie of her. If you dont know already, IMDB.com (Internet Movie Database) is a great source for you to search about actors, movies and put together a great Movie List for the weekend. I am having trouble sleeping lately, so I take my laptop to bed with me and watch a movie every other day.


I´ve done a Meryl Streep List and I have watched so far: 
1. The Devil wears Prada
2. Lions for Lambs
3. Mamma Mia!
4. Kramer vs Kramer
5. The Bridge of Madison County (I am still crying over this one!)
6. The hour
7. Its complicated!
8. Doubt
9. Prime

I have just finished watching The Bridge of Madison County and I am still crying over it. It was so simply, deep, thoughtful and delightful. This is one kind of movie you always want to watch but I end up not having the chance to. I have always had it in my To-Watch list and finally I did it. Meryl Streep plays an Italian woman called Francesca and Clint Eastwood plays Robert Kinkaid, a National Geographic´s landscape photographer. Meryl Streep is a house wife mother of two and Clint ends up knocking on her door asking for directions. They have a four day affair and iniciate a lifetime platonic romance. It is so dense and beautiful.


At the end, Robert sends her a book with a Lord Byron poem:
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
- Lord Byron


Movie quotes:


Francesca: And in that moment, everything I knew to be true about myself up until then was gone. I was acting like another woman, yet I was more myself than ever before. 


Robert Kincaid: This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime. 


Robert Kincaid: I don't want to need you, 'cause I can't have you. 


Francesca: Robert, please. You don't understand, no-one does. When a woman makes the choice to marry, to have children; in one way her life begins but in another way it stops. You build a life of details. You become a mother, a wife and you stop and stay steady so that your children can move. And when they leave they take your life of details with them. And then you're expected move again only you don't remember what moves you because no-one has asked in so long. Not even yourself. You never in your life think that love like this can happen to you. 
Robert Kincaid: But now that you have it... 
Francesca: I want to keep it forever. I want to love you the way I do now the rest of my life. Don't you understand... we'll lose it if we leave. I can't make an entire life disappear to start a new one. All I can do is try to hold onto to both. Help me. Help me not lose loving you. 


Robert: When I think of why I make pictures, the reason that I can come up with just seems that I've been making my way here. It seems right now that all I've ever done in my life is making my way here to you. 
Francesca: So, do you want more eggs or should we just fuck on the linoleum one last time? 


Francesca: I realized love won't obey our expectations, it's mystery is pure and absolute. What Robert and I had, could not continue if we were together. What Richard and I shared would vanish if we were apart. But how I wanted to share this. How would our lives have changed if I had? Could anyone else have seen the beauty of it?

Robert Kincaid: Things change. They always do, it's one of the things of nature. Most people are afraid of change, but if you look at it as something you can always count on, then it can be a comfort. 


The bridge of Madison County at IMBD LINK

The next Meryl STreep movie I want to watch is Sophie´s Choice, but I am kind of reluctant on this one. It seems really sad. I would need to be in the mood for it...I just dont know if I need to be in a bad-down mood and watch it to cry it all or to be in a good mood to look at it with other eyes....I never know the best mood to watch certain kind of movie......If it is a good mood for a down movie, a down mood for a down movie, a good mood for a fun and light movie or a down mood for a funny movie...There are lot of choices before watching a movie...aff !

lets see which day!!!

My last five girlfriends

I am slow lately, coach potato, if you will. Watching lots of movies. And this English movie is a good (silly romantic style) one: My last five girlfriends! I loved the theme park metaphor to relationships in life.

After yet another failed relationship, 30-something Duncan (Brendan Patricks) decides to quiz his last five girlfriends to find out what went wrong in order to figure out how to find love. With advice from bizarre sources and intense flights of fancy, finally Duncan realises that love is a battleground where only the fittest can survive.

Duncan's suicidal note:

What you've collectively done to me is quite an achievement. Four years ago, I was happy to believe in a very simple concept. You might have heard of it, it's called LOVE. But thanks to the five of you, I now know that love is a lie, a myth specifically concocted to bring me as much pain and misery as possible. Wendy: were you ever really that interested in me, or was I merely a holiday while you and him went through a dull patch? Olive: almost everything I told you was a lie. Sorry about that. Rhona: who'd you think I was? If I was that wrong for you, then you really should have paid more attention at the start. Natalie: okay, so I know I've had enough of this one, but did you really want ME, or just someone? And Gemma: what should I say to you? I suppose I should forgive you. 

This is a suicide note, after all. Okay, I forgive you. But I don't want that to make you feel any better... I'm sure you'll all find someone. You might even think you're in love, but don't kid yourselves: we're all just playing out scenes we've seen in films, the only difference is that our stories have depressing endings. When real people walk towards a sunset, no music swells, no credits roll - they just get to the end of the beach, have a row, and walk back to the car. And that's depressing! In fact after reading this, you might feel your only option is to join me! And that's the one thing I wouldn't blame you for. Bye then: Duncan. 

Passage from THE TRIAL by KAFKA (Video by ORSON WELLES)

Ilha das Flores - The Isle of the Flowers by Jorge Furtado (Brazilian Short Story)

This is one of the greatest Brazilian Short Stories (as a experimental documentary) by Jorge Furtado from 1989. It refers to the social problems and poverty faced in Ilha das Flores, an island where garbage is thrown at and the food given to pigs worth more than the one given to kids. Watch it !

It tracks the path of a tomato from garden to dump with the help of a monotone voiceover and a collection of bizarre images. While a very humorous film, the message it delivers about how human beings treat each other is anything but such. The director himself has stated that the film was inspired by the works of Kurt Vonnegut and Alain Resnais, among others.

The film has been denounced as "materialistic" because one of its early credits displays the phrase "God doesn't exist". Nevertheless, critic Jean-Claude Bernardet defined Isle of Flowers "a religious film", and the Brazilian National Bishop Confederation awarded the film with the Margarida de Prata (Silver Daisy), calling it "the best Brazilian film of the year" in 1990. In 1995, Isle of Flowers was chosen by the European critics as one of the 100 most important short films of the century.

PLOT

A constant and verbose off-narrator guides the viewer through the life of a tomato. Beginning at Mr Suzuki's tomato field, the tomato is then sold to a supermarket, where it is acquired by Mrs Anete, a perfume saleswoman, together with some pork. Each exchange requires the presence of money, which is, together with the tomato, the constant element in the story. Mrs Anete intends to prepare a tomato sauce for the pork, but, having considered one of Mr Suzuki's tomatoes inadequate, she throws it in the garbage. Together with the rest of the garbage, the tomato is taken to Isle of Flowers (Ilha das Flores), Porto Alegre's landfill. There, the organic material considered adequate is selected as food for pigs. The rest, which is considered inadequate for the pigs, is given to poor women and children to eat.

This is an English Version! Enjoy!







Let me know what you thought about it.

Tela Digital TV Show and “Think BIG, Think small-scale” short-film by Guest Columnist Frandu Almeida

Hello The Art Reference readers,

Last year I had the opportunity to write about the short-film “Think BIG, Think small-scale” I edited and was magistrously directed by Barbara Tavares.

In 2010, the film won two awards in Internation Film Festivals in Argentina and Uruguay and it has been participating in several International Festivals around the world. Check for more info on the film’s website: www.ogigantedopapelao.blogspot.com

The today’s post is about a Brazilian competition we entered: TELA DIGITAL TV SHOW. It’s a TV contest that screens Brazilian short-films. All candidates are compiting for the BEST AUDIENCE AWARD, the votes are collected on the TELA DIGITAL’s website. A total of 60k prize will be distributed to the best films.

I would like to ask for YOUR VOTE today! It’s easy and only requires a registration. Please follow the instructions below:

-Access the website: http://www.teladigital.org.br/teladigital/index.php?page=videos&section=view&vid_id=20698

- On the upper right side of the Page, click on “CRIAR CONTA” (meaning create your account)

- Fill out the information, especially your email address;

- Following you will receive a validation email. Validate your email. (check on your spam box, in case you don’t receive it);

- Click on the link on the email. This will validate your email.

- On the TELA DIGITAL’s webpage, search for the movie “O Gigante do Papelão” or click on the link: http://www.teladigital.org.br/teladigital/index.php?page=videos&section=view&vid_id=20698&type=featured

- Below the video, you will find 5 stars. Click on how many stars correspond to your vote.

- Voila! You have voted on the film and helped us a lot.

You can watch the film with English subtitle on the link bellow, after watch please go back the TELA DIGITAL’s website and VOTE!!

Link: http://vimeo.com/21133248

Password: gigante

Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it. If you have any questions or comment I’ll be glad to hear it.

If you want to check my previous post check it at: http://theartreference.blogspot.com/2010/07/think-big-think-smal-scale-movie-by.html

Frandu Almeida

Director, editor and writer

frandu@bodhgayafilms.com

www.bodhgayafilms.com

The artist Sergio Cezar and Barbara Tavares at LABRFF 

(Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival)

Barbara is documentarist and producer with more than 6 years in the film industry working on production, distribution and film festivals. She loves film and this media mission of bringing optimist and stories into people's lives.
She lived in Los Angeles for the past 2 years, she just got back to her home country, Brazil, to open her own production company, Bodhgaya Films.

Bodhgaya Films is a production company located in Rio de Janeiro but works all over the globe. Produces documentaries, fiction films, institutional films, making of's, music videos and more.

 

Frandu Almeida, Sergio Cezar & Barbara Tavares

*This post was written by the Guest Columnist Frandu Almeida director of Bodhgaya Films.

The Future by Miranda July

THE FUTURE tells the story of a thirty-something couple who, on deciding to adopt a stray cat, change their perspective on life, literally altering the course of time and testing their faith in each other and themselves.

...

Miranda July’s The Future, the follow-up to her successful 2005 film Me and You and Everyone We Know, may seem obnoxiously strange if you were to take some of its outlandish plot points out of context.  The story features time-stopping, conversations with the moon, and a shirt that can move on its own.  Oh, and the film is narrated by a cat waiting to be adopted.  These fantastical elements are balanced by July’s skill to find humor in the mundane and ability to cleverly express a couple’s fear that their dreams are dead and their future has already been written.  It’s not a comedy for everyone, but those who can appreciate July’s brand of offbeat humor will findThe Future a rewarding experience.

Sophie (July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater) have been together for several years but their lives are starting to drift into an odd malaise.  The couple decides to adopt Paw-Paw (the film’s narrator/symbol), a shelter cat, in a month after he’s healed up, and they see that as the beginning of the end for any dreams they may have had.  As Jason notes, “35 is only five years from 40 and 40 is the new 50 and anything after that is just loose change.”  “Loose change?” Sophie asks.  “Yeah,” says Jason. “Not enough to get you anything you want.”  Faced with the transition hurtling towards their relationship, Jason and Sophie resolve to follow their ambition for the next thirty days.  Jason quits his job doing tech support and picks up door-to-door volunteer work trying to sell new trees to the people of Los Angeles.  Sophie wants to do 30 different dances over the next 30 days and put them on YouTube as part of an art project.

There’s no real way for me to communicate July’s humor because it’s so different from every other comedic style that’s out there.  It’s an odd mixture of deadpan, silliness, and detachment.  The tone will certainly leave some people cold, but if you think her delivery of a line like, “I want to watch the news more but I’m so far behind…” is hilarious (as I do), then this may be the kind of movie for you.  It’s also a tricky balancing act since July and Linklater have to create relatable characters who sometimes behave like space aliens.  For instance, at one point in the movie, Sophie is talking to a man on the phone and they realize they’re both facing in the same direction.  Sophie decides to shout out the window to see if the man lives nearby.  That kind of behavior works within the tonal context of the picture, but some may find it too unbelievable to ever connect with anyone in the movie.

But what makes The Future a more fulfilling experience than July’s amusing idiosyncrasies is that the film effectively taps into our feelings about the momentum of our lives.  The story positions Paw-Paw as a symbol of a future we’re afraid to reach out in grab because it’s not perfect but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth loving.  July cleverly bends reality in order to make her observation that sometimes we want to keep everything frozen in time so we don’t have to face a scary future, but time will simply move on without us.  I’m not exactly sure why a moon has to be a part of that conversation (perhaps because it represents time’s ebb and flow), but a talking, “floating rock in the sky” doesn’t seem out of placed in July’s beautifully bizarre movie.

The Future is a lovely little film that’s a creatively fulfilling step forward for July.  Linklater holds his own against her delightful quirks and their relationship feels lived-in and real despite their quizzical worldview.  The Future isn’t for everyone and I’m glad because that’s part of what makes it special.

* This review was written by Matt Goldberg at http://collider.com/author/matt-goldberg/

Up - Animation

So, as I am into animation movies lately, I watched "UP" yesterday night. It was a really funny and cool movie. My next film in line is Bashir. Watch out for its review!

UP

By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.

A young Carl Fredrickson meets a young adventure spirited girl named Ellie. They both dream of going to a Lost Land in South America. 70 years later, Ellie has died. Carl remembers the promise he made to her. Then, when he inadvertently hits a construction worker, he is forced to go to a retirement home. But before they can take him, he and his house fly away. However he has a stowaway aboard. An 8 year old boy named Russell, who's trying to get an Assisting the Elderly badge. Together, they embark on an adventure, where they encounter talking dogs, an evil villain and a rare bird named Kevin.

Box Office

Budget: $175,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $68,108,790 (USA) (31 May 2009) (3 Screens)

Gross: $293,004,164 (USA) (5 November 2009)

TRIVIA

If Carl's house was approximately 1600 square feet, and the average house weighs between 60-100 pounds per square foot, it weighs 120,000 pounds. If the average helium balloon can carry .009 pounds (or 4.63 grams), it would take 12,658,392 balloons to lift his house off the ground. (20,622 balloons appear on the house when it first lifts off.)

Very first animated film, as well as the first 3D film, ever to open the Cannes Film Festival.

Russell is Pixar's first Japanese/Asian-American character voiced by an Asian-American actor, Jordan Nagai.

As per Pixar tradition, John Ratzenberger once again provides a voice in the movie, making him the only actor to do a voice in every Pixar film.

The term 'A113' is the number of the courtroom, and can be found on the gold sign Carl sits next to while waiting to be called (Courtroom A113). A113 is a frequent Pixar in-joke based on one of the room numbers for the animation program at Cal Arts.

The legendary singer Charles Aznavour performs the voice of Carl in the French version.

Dug's 'point' pose, where his entire tail, back, and head is in a perfectly straight line, is an homage to the identical pose that Mickey's dog, Pluto, often makes. Dug also shares a similar colour scheme to Pluto.

Co-director/co-writer Bob Peterson stated that Dug's line "I have just met you, and I love you," was inspired by a quote from a small child that he met when he was a camp counselor in the 1980s.

In June 2009, 10-year-old Colby Curtin from Huntington Beach, California, was suffering from the final stages of terminal vascular cancer. Her dying wish was to live long enough to see Up (2009). Unfortunately, Colby was too sick to leave home and her family feared she would die without seeing the film. A family friend contacted Pixar, and a private screening was arranged for Colby. The company flew an employee with a DVD copy of "Up", along with some tie-in merchandise from the film. Colby couldn't see the screen because the pain kept her eyes closed, so her mother gave her a play-by-play of the film. Seven hours after viewing the film, Colby passed away.

Russell's Wilderness Explorer sash has several in-jokes and tributes. The most obvious is a Luxo Jr. (1986) ball. One badge has a hamburger with a candle in it. This is a nod to Merritt Bakery in Oakland - which creates cakes in that shape - a favorite hangout of director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera. Another badge is a tribute to 2-D animation, showing a perforated paper that is used by 2D animators to line up their drawings correctly. He also has badges for First Aid and Second Aid, which may be a reference to a short on the Up website where Russell struggles to apply bandages to Carl. Yet another badge depicts a multicolored pinwheel - the "hang" icon of Apple's Mac OS X operating system, equivalent to the Windows hourglass icon. Several of these badges are shown in the credits. An additional tribute to Apple and Steve Jobs (former CEO of Pixar and still a primary shareholder) shows Russell trying to teach Carl how to use a computer.

Edward Asner plays Carl Fredricksen.

A code title used during production was "Helium".

Film debut of Jordan Nagai, who voices Russell. Originally, his older brother Hunter was auditioning for the part, and Nagai simply came along with him. About 400 children had showed up for the auditions, but Nagai stood out because he would not stop talking. Director Pete Docter later said that "as soon as Jordan's voice came on we started smiling because he is appealing and innocent and cute and different from what I was initially thinking."

Pixar's second most commercially successful film after Finding Nemo (2003).

SPOILERS
(DONT READ IF YOU DONT WANT TO SPOIL THE MOVIE)

Carl and Russell's hometown at the end is Oakland. We see Oakland landmarks Fenton's Creamery and the Fox Oakland Theatre (showing Star Wars (1977)).

All of the dogs except for Dug are named after letters of the Greek alphabet (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc) although this could relate to rankings in a dog pack, where the lead male is known as the Alpha, then Beta and so on. This is supported by the fact that when Dug puts Alpha in the Cone of Shame, all the other dogs begin referring to Dug as Alpha. The voices of both Dug and Alpha are performed by the same actor, Bob Peterson.

When Russell flies past the airship using his balloons and the leaf blower, we briefly see several of Charles Muntz's dogs playing poker at a card table. This is a tribute to the famous "Dogs Playing Poker" series of paintings by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge.

Many death scenes were proposed for Charles Muntz; in one of them, his obsession with catching the giant bird took him inside the dreaded labyrinth against his own recommendation, where he would eventually get lost and die (much like Jack Nicholson's character in The Shining (1980)). As they animators wanted to keep the climax situated in the air, they considered that Muntz be lured into Carl's house by the bird, and then die as the house fell off the zeppelin with him still in it. However, they did not want to associate the house, which symbolized Elly, with a violent death. Another ending that almost made it was Muntz getting tangled into some balloons and getting lifted away, instead of falling down. But this did not give a proper closure to the character. In the end, the directors decided that this was Carl's story, and Muntz' ending was therefore to be kept simple.

If you have movie tips for me, please, comment or email.

I would love to receive your suggestion!

Mary and Max

I am all into animation movies lately. I am about to watch "UP" in a few minutes and all excited about it. Friends said it was cute and lovely! Awww!

MAX

MARY

I watched a great one last week called Mary and Max by Adam Elliot. A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.



Soundtrack



Interview with the Diretor Adam Elliot

Academy Award winner Adam Elliot discusses his feature debut, Mary and Max, the stop-motion animated story of a friendship that defied the distance between two different worlds, a film that opened the Sundance Film Festival on January 2009 and went on to win the Cristal at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival afterwards.




Adam Elliot on Sundance

Oscar-winning director Adam Elliot and Producer Melanie Coombs sat down with the Daily Californian at the Sundance Film Festival to discuss Mary and Max, their first feature-length film, selected as the festivals opener.

The claymation film catalogues the relationship between an 8 year-old Australian girl and her pen pal, a 44 year-old New Yorker with Asperger Syndrome. The film treats their relationship with sympathy rather than condescension, and black humour that had the audience at the first press and industry screening yesterday chuckling for its duration (quite a feat). Geoff Gilmore, the Sundance Film Festival Director, called Mary and Max his favourite opening film of the past 19 years.

A full review of the film will be available on the Daily Cal's website on blog.dailycal.org/arts/.



"I think it's a fantastic film about keeping something old-fashioned, friendship, alive. Beyond the hyper technology of social networking and such, Mary and Max coax each other out of her and his shell. One could say that the ending is too depressing or melodramatic or convenient, but I think it's just right -- they could never meet face to face. That would defeat the purpose of their pin-pal bond and bring it into an ordinary veneer."

This is a good suggestion of lovely & cute movie. I thought it was a little bit slow on its 3/4 part, but it was GREATTTT and poetic!


LINK: http://www.maryandmax.com/

MICMACs a tire-larigot - by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Writers: Jean-Pierre Jeunet (scenario), Guillaume Laurant (scenario), and 1 more credit »
Stars:Dany Boon, André Dussollier and Nicolas Marié
 

A man and his friends come up with an intricate and original plan to destroy two big weapons manufacturers.


First it was a mine that exploded in the middle of the Moroccan desert. Years later, it was a stray bullet that lodged in his brain... Bazil doesn't have much luck with weapons. The first made him an orphan, the second holds him on the brink of sudden, instant death.


Released from the hospital after his accident, Bazil is homeless. Luckily, our inspired and gentle-natured dreamer is quickly taken in by a motley crew of junkyard dealers living in a veritable Ali Baba's cave. The groups talents and aspirations are as surprising as they are diverse: Remington, Calculator, Buster, Slammer, Elastic Girl, Tiny Pete and Mama Chow.

Then one day, walking by two huge buildings, Bazil recognizes the logos of the weapons manufacturers that caused all of his misfortune. He sets out to take revenge, with the help of his faithful gang of wacky friends. Underdogs battling heartless industrial giants, our gang relive the battle of David and Goliath, with all the imagination and fantasy of Buster Keaton...

or

"Avid movie-watcher and video store clerk Bazil has had his life all but ruined by weapons of war. His father was killed by a landmine in Morocco and one fateful night a stray bullet from a nearby shootout embeds itself in his skull, leaving him on the verge of instantaneous death. Losing his job and his home, Bazil wanders the streets until he meets Slammer, a pardoned convict who introduces him to a band of eccentric junkyard dealers including Calculator, a math expert and statistician, Buster, a record-holder in human cannonball feats, Tiny Pete, an artistic craftsman of automatons, and Elastic Girl, a sassy contortionist. When chance reveals to Bazil the two weapons manufacturers responsible for building the instruments of his destruction, he constructs a complex scheme for revenge that his newfound family is all too happy to help set in motion." (written by the massve twins)

If you liked Amelie Pulin, that's a great suggestion!!!

Official site: http://micmacs.substance001.com/

Rio receives Rio's Voices

There is a big VA VA VA here in Rio de Janeiro right now. Rio's actors are here to release the movie (once showed in this blog, check here!). Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, Jamie Foxx , Will.I.AM, Rodrigo Santoro, Carlinhos Brown (Brazilian singer), Jemine.

Anne Hathaway is a charm. She tietou (gave too much attention) to Bebel Gilberto. She said she thought that the sceneries in the movies were a licenca poetica (or a figure of speech) used by Carlos Saldanha to make the movie more beautiful, but she realized Rio is THAT AWESOME! Anne had caipirinha with cachaca, mentioned she has made lots of "old friends" here and that she feels like a local. I think she is/was overwhelmed. Jamie Foxx just commented that he knew Rio from the adult website. Come one, Jamie, get clever, get worldly! There is much more about Rio than teats.

Carlinhos Brown

Rodrigo Santoro

Anne Hathaway

Bebel Gilberto & Carlos Brown

Carlos Saldanha (director)

Jesse Eisenberg, Jamie Foxx & Rodrigo Santoro.

Singer Taio Cruz, actor Jermaine Clement & rapper Will.I.Am

Sergio Mendes (composer)

This is the first trailer for Rio, a new animated feature film from Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age, Robots, Horton Hears a Who!). The movie is directed by Carlos Saldanha and will be released in April, 2011 (USA).

Set in the magnificent city of Rio de Janeiro and the lush rainforest of Brazil, the comedy-adventure centers on Blu, a rare macaw who thinks he is the last of his kind. When Blu discovers there’s another - and that she’s a she - he leaves the comforts of his cage in small town Minnesota and heads to Rio. But it’s far from love at first sight between the domesticated and flight-challenged Blu and the fiercely independent, high-flying female, Jewel. Unexpectedly thrown together, they embark on an adventure of a lifetime, where they learn about friendship, love, courage, and being open to life’s many wonders. ‘Rio’ brings together a menagerie of vivid characters, a heart-warming story, colorful backdrops, energizing Latin and contemporary music, and family-friendly song and dance,
 

WASTE LAND with Vik Muniz

Synopsis (as per the official site)
Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives. Director Lucy Walker (DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, BLINDSIGHT and COUNTDOWN TO ZERO) and co-directors João Jardim and Karen Harley have great access to the entire process and, in the end, offer stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.

Vik Muniz
Vik Muniz was born into a working-class family in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1961. As a young man he was shot in the leg whilst trying to break up a fight. He received compensation for his injuries and used this money to fund a trip to New York City, where he has lived and worked since the late 1980s. He began his career as a sculptor but gradually became more interested in photographic reproductions of his work, eventually turning his attention exclusively to photography. He incorporates a multiplicity of unlikely materials into this photographic process. Often working in series, Vik has used dirt, diamonds, sugar, string, chocolate syrup and garbage to create bold, witty and often deceiving images drawn from the pages of photojournalism and art history. His work has been met with both commercial success and critical acclaim, and has been exhibited worldwide. His solo show at MAM in Rio de Janeiro was second only to Picasso in attendance records; it was here that Vik first exhibited his “Pictures of Garbage Series” in Brazil.

WASTE LAND Official Trailer from Almega Projects on Vimeo.

I was sad that the WASTE LAND did not win the Oscars. I guess that Inside Job, about the 2008-2009 global crisis, was more pertinent to Americans at this moment, but Waste Land is definitly a better doc and more moving.

I will write about Vik Muniz's garbage art shorlty, beleive it!!! He is great. A little while ago I had the opportunity to visit his exhibition at Casa de Cultura Laura Alvim in Ipanema beach. It was amazing to see his non-garbage art like a bed with an erection, haha!