Schema Magazine

Schema's coverage of the 1st Brazilian Film Festival of Vancouver
Reviews by Desirée Leal.

The House of Tom-Mundo, Monde, Mondo
DIR: Ana Jobim

No Brazilian festival would be complete without an homage to one of the greatest national treasures the country ever produced. Lovingly crafted by Ana Jobim, this documentary is a kind of home movie/love letter to her late husband, the legendary Tom Jobim. With footage of their life together in Rio, New York and their home in the countryside of Brazil, the title very aptly describes the essence of this film. It is not a portrait of Tom Jobim as a great artist. Though the music is by no means absent from the film or in any way treated as incidental, it is not the subject of the piece as is often the case with films about musical giants of these proportions. The music stays married to the man and is as inextricably a part of him as the sound of his own voice and the features of his face. We are then free to embark on a much deeper journey of discovery of who Tom Jobim was and what inspired him. In The House of Tom, we see Jobim as a father, husband, and friend - as a regular man, which in itself might be interesting enough especially to those who happen to be great fans of his music. But Ana Jobim goes further as she delves into ideas of place, family and home, and of borders and boundaries. For Tom and his music, they were permeable and yielding. We follow Tom as he reads poetry, jams with friends, plays with his kids and complains about the noise to the upstairs neighbour while he's trying to work.

The House of Tom offers a unique look into Jobim's outlook on his career, his family and most of all his 'Home' - his idea of home, not his multiple addresses, or the home where he keeps his piano and his furniture or even where his beloved Ana lives with their two children - but the home he carries deep within himself and where his music and poetry come from. The House of Tom, is a beautiful tribute to a man and his amazing musical contribution, but most of all it captures a unique glimpse of what makes the soul of an artist.

Out of Tune
DIR: Walter Lima Jr.

Told in flashback from the point of view of four old friends and musicians who reunite to remember a deceased former band member, Out of Tune tells a story of the roots of Bossa Nova and the turbulent times that marked the early years of the movement and its journey to North America in the 1960s. The story follows four friends that form a musical group and attempt to make it big just as Bossa Nova begins to take hold in America. Young and full of ambition, the young men, accompanied by their filmmaker friend, go to New York to play in the clubs and seek their fortune. In New York they meet a fellow Brazilian who is out facing the world - a spunky young bohemian named Gloria who captures the heart of Joaquim, the group's main songwriter. This would have been a great opportunity to talk about an aspect of Brazilian culture with a degree of depth that might offer those who enjoy Bossa Nova today some context of its history. This opportunity, however, is missed in favor of a tawdry soap opera story line about Joaquim and Gloria's affair which proves to be nothing more than a confusing turn in what might have otherwise been a good script about music, politics and youth. These themes, which are clearly present at the beginning of the narrative, are all but abandoned as soon as the love affair is introduced. From that moment the film slows to a crawl as we follow the affair between Joaquim and Gloria and all that goes on politically - the censorship and the military dictatorship leading up to the end of the 60s and into the 70s - become secondary. Towards the end, the film rushes to catch up with a token censorship "blackout" and military police raid scene but then promptly returns to the Gloria and Joaquim drama. If this weren't enough, the film ends with an almost Jesus-like "resurrection" scene where Gloria's grown son, (pretentiously played by Rodrigo Santoro, who originally plays a young Joaquim) shows up at the club where the old timers are gathering to remember Gloria and talk about the old days. This is an odd casting choice since it basically suggests that the young man is a product of the affair between Gloria and Joaquim -- something that seems unlikely within the timeline of the story. Also odd and somewhat irritating was the fact that this young man walks right in and starts speaking perfect English to a room full old Brazilian musicians who in turn reply just as fluently. Hmmm?! Difficult to know what the film is really about. Though well acted and shot, Out of Tune is silly, convoluted and clumsy - a disappointing attempt to tell a story about an interesting subject.