Cazuza: Time Doesn't Stop (2004)
Inspired by the moving book “Só as Mães São Felizes”, by Lucinha Araújo, Cazuza's mother, the film covers a little more than 10 years of the singer’s crazy and brief life – from the beginning of his career in the Circo Voador venue, in 1981, to the huge success and the apotheosis of his shows with the Barão Vermelho band, his solo career, his relations with his parents, friends, lovers and passions, and the courage he had to face his final years, with HIV, until his death, in 1990.
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Fresh and Exciting
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
First I have to state I'm not a fan of Cazuza the singer. I find his songs a little senseless, they're just good to listen to because they're full of rhymes with enjoyable melody. I'm also not a fan of Cazuza himself, in my humble opinion he's not someone to be inspired by. Also, I don't identify myself with him in many aspects, just in some vague thoughts.The main beautiful thing about "Cazuza: the time doesn't stop" is the love of his parents. He used to be the kind of son nobody would like to have. He didn't care about studying or working, was on drugs, got aids, had sex with men and wasted much of his parents' money. Nevertheless, his parents still loved and supported him in every decision of his life; they were by his side whenever he needed, even if he didn't deserve to be so well attended. That's one thing that moved me throughout this tearjerker film.Daniel de Oliveira was very good at portraying this guy, he learned to speak just like Cazuza sang, using that Rio accent yet whistle. The rest of the cast is regular and do their job simply as they are. In my opinion, this is one of the best Brazilian's films from the 00's.
This film cannot be seen as a good piece of film as it is. Out of context, it has no special meaning besides the point it constantly tries to make of the clichés we have heard over and over again. That is, gay men taking drugs, having sex with everyone they see and being self-destructive. As it usually happens with Brazilian cinema, this movie doesn't try to break away from the national social basis and only repeats all the beliefs the citizens and foreigners have of the country and its own people. A very sad thing to do, a very bad message to pass. I watched this film remembering my mother telling me how horrible it is when people start smoking joints and end up dying of aids for sharing needles and being promiscuous. That's what everyone goes around saying in Brazil, in sensationalist terms, and this is how this film is presented. It is a true pity that such a good composer and singer had to be pictured in such horrible colours. And worst still that Brazil hasn't learnt how to do something new that will challenge the people to expand their way of thinking into new areas.
I was very interested in watching Cazuza. His story is well-known by most of the Brazilians that lived during the 80s rock moment. But Cazuza himself was not really explained in the movie. It was based in the book of Lucinha Araujo, Cazuza's mother, and it seems that she tried to convince herself and the others that she was a good mother and he was a good son. If you are a parent, you can take you own conclusion about this. All the self-destructive behavior of Cazuza doesn't fix in this scenario.From where it came from? For his rebellion with the homophobic world? Or it was a consequence of the inexistence of limits or punishments in a high-class Brazilian family? For who knows the story, the movie looks like a poor documentary. If Cazuza is considered the real Brazilian poet of the 80s, he deserved a better explanation.
The impression I had on the first hour of the movie was that it was more like a scrapbook of some memorable events in Cazuza's life rather than a biography. The scenes have no connection, it seems they're only there for you to know what happened. It looks like a story told by a fan who collects news about him. There is no drama, nothing to expect, no plot at all.The last 30 minutes aren't really a change, but it's a more dense part, because of the discovery of the disease that is slowly killing him.The only things that save the movie are the performance of Daniel de Oliveira, not only on stage but also off, and of course the songs and poetry of Cazuza.