Posts under Movies

Podcast: Talking about the movies

Posted by Rachel

Click here to listen to today’s podcast! Movie Podcast

UPDATE: Here’s the temporary link to the podcast. Sorry about the problem–we’re working on fixing it.

Check out the BYKI list!

Today, we’re going to talk about movies.

Eu gosto muito de filme.
Estou acostumado a ver filmes de ação ou de drama.
Mas de vez em quando, experimento assistir algo diferente.
Fui ao cinema ontem, e assisti um filme muito interessante.
Vi um documentário sobre o aquecimento global.
Antes do filme, vi vários trailers bons do mesmo tipo.
Agora queria ver mais filmes assim.

In Portuguese, movie is filme. Here, the speaker says, “I really like movies.” Note that although the noun is used in the singular, it is used to describe the plural. Gostar de means to like.

This means “I usually see action movies or drama.” Estar acostumado a means to be used to doing something, but it can also be translated as usually doing something (i.e. estou acostumado a acordar cedo – I’m used to getting up early). Note that ação is action. Some other genres include comedia (comedy), romance (romance), and infantil (for kids).

“But once in awhile, I try watching something different.” De vez em quando means once in awhile, or sometimes, and assistir means to watch, like a movie, TV show, or soccer game. Experimentar means to try, when we’re discussing doing something for the first time, or trying on clothes (for example: Experimentei a camisa, mas ficou grande –I tried on the shirt, but it was too big). We would use provar for other cases, like tasting new food (i.e. Provei a feijoada ontem e gostei - I tried feijoada yesterday and liked it).

Here, the speaker says, “I went to the movies yesterday, and I watched a really interesting film.” Cinema, which is a masculine noun, means the movies. Note that we say ao cinema (to the movies), since we are using ir (to go) and must include the article (o), which is combined with a (to). Ontem is yesterday.

This means, “I saw a documentary about global warming.” Documentário is documentary, and aquecimento global is global warming. Note that ver in the first person, simple past tense is vi.

“Before the movie, I saw several good previews for similar movies.” Like in English, we say trailer for preview. Mesmo tipo means the same type, or similar. Note that when we say before (antes), we must add de, which in this case becomes do, since we have a masculine noun after it (filme). If it were a feminine noun, it would become da (like antes da apresentação).

Finally, this means “Now I want to see more movies like this.” When you use querer in the past imperfect tense (queria), it expresses a desire to do something in the future, so it could be translated as “I want” or “I’d like.” It’s similar to the conditional of gostar (gostaria – I’d like) Assim means “like this” or “similar.”

 

Brazilian Profile: Rodrigo Santoro

Posted by Rachel

Rodrigo was born on August 22, 1975 in Petrópolis, a mountain town north of Rio de Janeiro. The son of an engineer and an artist of Italian descent, he grew up in Rio and went to PUC-Rio to study journalism. After he graduated, he spent a year in Globo TV’s Actor’s Workshop, and began his career in Brazilian soap operas.

He began his career in film in 2001, when he starred in “Bicho de Sete Cabeças,” a Brazilian movie about a young man sent to a psychiatric hospital after his parents discovered he smoked marijuana. He starred in “Abril Despedaçado” a year later, which was nominated for Best Foreign Film in the Golden Globes.

In 2003, Rodrigo also appeared in the award-winning film “Carandiru,” about a São Paulo prison. He moved on to Hollywood films by appearing in “Charlie’s Angels” and “Love Actually.” He later appeared on “Lost” and in the film “300.”

Most recently, he co-starred as Raul Castro in Steven Soderbergh’s two-part film about Che Guevara, David Mamet’s “Redbelt,” and the Brazilian film “Os Desafinados.”

Rodrigo’s upcoming movies include “I Love You Phillip Morris,” with Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, and “The Post Grad Survival Guide” with Alexis Bledel and Carol Burnett.

Rodrigo still lives in Rio de Janeiro, where he enjoys spending time outside and playing sports.

 

Brazilian Profile: Fernando Meirelles

Posted by Rachel

Fernando Meirelles was born on November 5, 1955 in the city of São Paulo. The child of a doctor, he had the opportunity to travel and to be exposed to different cultures. He attended the University of São Paulo and majored in architecture, but began experimenting with film.

When he graduated, he joined with friends to create a production company, called Olhar Eletronico, which produced TV shows. When the company closed, he began working as an ad director, and became a partner in O2 Filmes, one of the largest ad companies in Brazil.

But Meirelles’ big break came in 2002, when he decided to adapt the book “City of God” into a movie, which became an international hit and earned him an Oscar nomination as best director. In 2005, he directed “The Constant Gardener,” a film starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, which received several Golden Globe nominations and four Oscar nominations. He most recently directed “Blindness,” released in 2008, which stars Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, and was featured at the Cannes Film Festival. Meirelles also produced several popular Brazilian films including “Cidade dos Homens” in 2007 and “O ano que meus pais sairam de ferias” in 2006.

He’s currently working as executive producer on “Extraordinary Garbage,” a film about Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, which is currently in post-production.

 

Festival do Rio 2008

Posted by admin

From September 25 to October 9th, Rio de Janeiro will host the annual “Festival do Rio,” an international film festival featuring some of the best films from Brazil, Latin America, and the world. Hundreds of films will be shown at nearly 30 theaters all over the city, including several free films at the Centro Cultural Ação da Cidadania in the Saúde neighborhood.

fsr.gifSome of the big name films featured at the festival include “Ultima parada: 174,” a film about a true story of a hostage crisis in Rio, “Burn After Reading,” with Brad Pitt and George Clooney, Francis Ford Coppola’s “Youth without Youth,” “Synedoche, New York,” a film by Charlie Kaufman, “Paris” by Cedric Klapisch, and Woody Allen’s “Vicky Christina Barcelona.”

For more information on the festival, click here.

 

New Brazilian Film: Era uma vez

Posted by admin

Called “Once Upon a Time,” this new film opened on July 25th in Brazil, and may be released abroad later on by Sony. It is a Romeo and Juliet story about a poor man who falls in love with a rich girl in Rio de Janeiro. It’s directed by the same director of “Dois Filhos do Francisco,” a movie that was enormously popular in Brazil.

Click here to see the official website, and watch the trailer below.