Braziliancinema is rooted in powerful social allegories and the disruption of conventional vanguards, consistently offering high-quality movies to this day. While the rest of the world was entranced by the advent of theNouvelle Vague in Europe, Brazil was doing its own thing, bringing about what’s regarded as “New Cinema,” a film movement guided by realism and a response to the rising racial and class discrimination, as well as a harsh dictatorial period.
Brazilian cinema had to learn how to criticize its alarming political state while bypassing the strong censorship of the time. Right now, the industry is finally free to vent all its rage and frustrations on a country that seems to have forgotten its relentless history. In modern cinema, social allegories have only gotten sharper and expanded to broader film genres and techniques.
If you’re looking to get into Brazilian cinema, these 10 modern masterpieces are great places to start.
10Medusa (2021)
Medusais a sharp satire about the unstable political moment in which Brazil found itself between 2018 and 2022, with the rise of a conservative government and unscrupulous religious fanaticism that took over the country’s ethical values. In this context, the movie follows a group of young women who spend their days worshiping Christ, and at night they go out to punish sinners in the streets.
What Makes It Great
Medusabrings a new take on theinfamous Greek myth, and connects it to the repressive society women find themselves in. In between a powerful allegory and relevant social criticism, there are plenty of moments intended to make the audience laugh out loud, resulting in a versatile piece of Brazilian cinema.Stream on Prime Video
9Capitu and the Chapter (2021)
Written by Machado de Assis,Dom Casmurrois Brazil’s all-time classic novel, and any attempt to adapt the book to the letter fails in capturing the author’s irreverent sense of humor, his bitterness, and the magnitude of a perpetual dilemma: did Capitu cheat on Bentinho or not?
To explore such a well-known Brazilian story, director Júlio Bressane gets as lyrical as a movie can get by connecting words to the senses.Capitu and the Chapterevokes distinctively theatrical staging to frame these characters in time. All of a sudden, past and present become one, and answers float around alongside the questions in a way one can’t really know what’s one or the other.Not Currently Available to Stream or Purchase
87 Prisoners (2021)
For those who love the modern classicCity of God, aBrazilian movie everyone should watchat least once, and wish to see another direct conflict between moral dilemmas and an oppressively violent reality,7 Prisonersis a perfect option. The movie is centered around a group of impoverished teens tricked into a working position that leads them straight to a human trafficking scheme.
Counting on Rodrigo Santoro in a harrowing villainous performance,7 Prisonersconstantly alternates between thriller and drama in a narrative where anything could happen. Tension is consistently through the roof as the movie takes an anti-revenge course, challenging traditional moral principles as it prepares to deliver a disturbing gut punch in the end.Stream on Netflix
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7The Second Mother (2015)
At one moment,The Second Motherfeels cozy and soothing. Then, all of a sudden, the film strikes the viewer in the face without notice. The story follows Val, a hard-working live-in housekeeper whose routine is shaken by the sudden visit of her estranged daughter, Jessica, who gets increasingly uncomfortable with her mother’s devotion to the people she works for.
What Makes it Great
The scenario of home disarray and structural class discrimination is reminiscent of whatParasitewould pull off just a few years later.The Second Motheris a movie made of contrasts, addressing generational gaps and class disparity with a delicate, yet incisive approach that orbits around the fascinating character of Val and Regina Casé’s mesmerizing performance.Rent on AppleTV
6Estômago: A Gastronomic Story (2007)
Contrary to what the title suggests, one wouldn’t want to watch this movie while eating.Estômago: A Gastronomic Storydelivers two parallel stories set in the past and the present to pique the audience’s curiosity. In the past, Raimundo is introduced as a naive man with aspirations of becoming a renowned chef. In the present, he’s seen in prison sharing his jail with some real mean-spirited folk, hinting that he did something horrific to end up there.
The film is a great anxiety-inducing exercise that deals with topics such as greed and obsession in a narrative that is as hilarious as it is outrageous.Estômagoinspired many Brazilian filmmakers to think outside the box, paying tribute to genre films while inserting anincisive social commentarywithin.
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5Invisible Life (2019)
Invisible Life’s tagline proclaims “a tropical melodrama”, which is the best way to describe it. Set in the charming city of Rio de Janeiro during the 1950s, the movie tells the story of two sisters, Eurídice and Guida, kept apart by a terrible lie and a tragic twist of fate.
One of the most beautiful Brazilian movies to look at,Invisible Lifeis a visual spectacle thanks to its vibrant color palette and sparkling costume design. These elements are the key to conveying the immeasurable distance between the two main characters as they go their own separate ways.
The narrative is both moving and tragic, portraying how the love between Eurídice and Guida endures throughout the years, fueled by the hope of a reunion that will never happen. The social subtext is strong and revolting, exposing how the shackles of patriarchy not only shatter the dreams of these women, but also destroy any chance of reconciliation between them.Stream on Prime Video
4Mars One (2022)
Among the mostunderrated Black coming-of-age moviesin recent memory,Mars Oneis a moving tribute to childhood dreams and how we learn to mature them over the years. The story is split up into different storylines, each following a member of a lower-middle-class family as they navigate through the hardships of life in a big city, connected by the strong family ties that keep them together.
Mars Onedelivers an insightful look into where each generation stands in contemporary society. The highlights are the younger characters and their charming performances; Eunice, in particular, who experiences her first love in a moving LGBTQ+ subtext, and Deivinho, a young boy gathering the courage to reject his father’s ambitions in favor of his dreams of studying astrophysics.Stream on Netflix
3Reflections of a Blender (2010)
Reflections of a Blenderis exactly the kind of weird movie that one might expect from its title. In the film, a lonely housewife, whose husband has recently disappeared, befriends a blender who gains consciousness overnight.
The movie is a one-of-a-kind piece of black comedy that fully embraces the absurdity of its narrative, exploring a whirlwind of emotions with an acid sense of humor that reaches shocking extremes. Ana Lúcia Torre is marvelous as an elderly woman on the verge of a mental breakdown, and Selton Mello’s brilliant voice performance as the blender enables a unique chemistry that challenges physical boundaries.Not Currently Available to Stream or Purchase
2Good Manners (2017)
Good Mannersis one ofbest movies about werewolves, an underrated classic creature in cinema. Although the figure of the werewolf is usually connected primarily to horror, the movie also offers hints of romance, drama, and even coming-of-age elements, leaving the monster’s lore in the background to focus on a character-driven narrative. At the center of it is Clara, a lonely nurse hired to take care of the unborn child of a wealthy woman who’s harboring a terrifying secret.
Some of the riskiest storytelling choices in modern Brazilian cinema can be found here.Good Mannersdelves deep into a distinctive social fantasy, using its supernatural elements as the starting point of a folk tale set in an oppressive urban landscape.Stream on Tubi
1Bacurau (2019)
Hollywood productions love to portray the United States as the good guys, but things don’t always work that way from an outsider’s perspective. InBacurau, Americans attempt to take over the titular small town in the Braziliansertão, hunting down its inhabitants for fun until the prey violently turns against the predator.
It all starts when the community of Bacurau realizes their town has vanished from all maps, setting the path for a brutal tale of cultural resistance. The movie isn’t even slightly subtle in its message, much less does it try to hide its anger against neo-imperialism and how the big nations of the world seem to perceive third-world countries as their little personal playgrounds.Stream on Paramount+
