Artificial Paradises (2012)

That was an excellent one.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

You could reduce the movie to its core message, but it wouldn't be fair to the story itself. And it's nicely edited (with time-lines crossing and giving you bits and pieces to swallow), even though it should be more than predictable early on. Then again there is a spin on that too. And there is some nudity and a lot of music and a lot of partying. "Of course" all that comes with a price.You could say the bad tries to creep into the good moments someone is having. Like a balance, like yin-yang or whatever you want to call it. Decisions are made and people have to live with the consequences of their decisions. So life then ... as we know it. The acting is nice and the framing/colors are really putting you in the mood. "Enjoying" the movie would be a stretch, but it's powerful at times

To preface - I originally had no intention of watching this film due to the relatively poor reviews found on this site, as well as what I thought would be a shallow story about sex, drugs, and raves. It was pretty random that I ended up seeing this, and when I started the movie I wasn't expecting to watch much more than 5 minutes of it.Fortunately, I sat through to the end and am very glad I did. The artfully told story and solid acting kept me hooked, though some of the scenes were admittedly a little stretched out. The story is split into three time periods of the character's lives, switching back and forth throughout the movie. As the viewer, you begin to piece together the story and relationships, and make sense of earlier scenes until you have a full picture at the end, which will stick with you for days.This is not at all the shallow movie I was expecting. Instead, it was a gripping story about love and drugs - how they shape relationships - and a deeper look into artificial paradises. Solid acting, multi-dimensional characters and great cinematography all add to the viewing experience. This is a great addition to Brazilian Cinema which I will add to my favorites along with Tropa de Elite I&II, Cidade de Deus, and Central do Brasil. I strongly recommend it.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117948183/A Zazen production in association with Globo Filmes. (International sales: Zazen, Rio de Janiero.) Produced by Jose Padiha. Executive producer, Tereza Gonzalez. Directed by Marcos Prado. Screenplay, Cristiano Gualda, Pablo Padilla, Marcos Prado. With: Nathalia Dill, Luca Bianchi, Livia de Bueno, Bernardo Melo Barreto, Cesar Cardadeiro, Divana Brandao, Cadu Favero, Erom Cordeiro, Roney Villela, Emilo Orciollo Neto, Mathias Gottfried, Yan Cassall. (Portuguese, English dialogue) There's about as much depth as it sounds like there should be in Brazilian-Dutch co-production "Artificial Paradises," a two-ships- passing-in-the-night romance between two rave-scene regulars that features plenty of sun, sex, skin, drugs, colored lights and heavy bass. Marcos Prado's glossy debut feature is an exercise in eye- and ear-candy likely to please undiscriminating younger auds, and should prove commercially viable for a degree of theatrical exposure and wider home- format sales in various territories. Cutting back and forth over a few years' span, the script's present tense finds the two protags on different courses: Erika (Nathalia Dill) is raising a young son alone in Europe while globe-trotting as a successful DJ. Back in Brazil, Nando (Luca Bianchi) is just out of prison after a drug-running sentence, rudderless and disillusioned, but still trying to keep his little bro Lipe (Cesar Cardadeiro) from tumbling down the same rabbit hole.Not long ago, however, Erika and Nando had been making beautiful music together in Amsterdam; some time before that, they'd had a druggy first meeting at a seaside music festival, during which fateful time her best friend (Livia de Bueno) fatally overdosed and his father accidentally drowned during an annual family trip Nando had skipped to go partying.Despite this modicum of plot complication and some late melodrama involving Lipe with drug smugglers, there's scant danger that substance will get in the way of "Paradise's" escapist pleasures. The predictable ending is necessitated by convention rather than any palpable chemistry, though the leads are personable enough.The package itself is shiny and colorful, with solid tech/design contributions. Occasionally diverse soundtrack choices provide a welcome respite from recurrent walls of interchangeable booty-shaking rhythms.Camera (color, widescreen), Luis Carvalho; editor, Quito Ribeiro; music, Rodrigo Coelho, Gustavo MM; production designer, Claudio Amaral Peixoto; costume designer, Claudia Kopke; sound, Alessandro Laroca, Eduardo Virmond Lima, Armando Torres Jr.; casting, Fatima Toledo. Reviewed at Montreal World Film Festival (Focus on World Cinema), Aug. 31, 2012. (Also in Rotterdam, Seattle, Tribeca film festivals.) Running time: 96 MIN.

It's very uncommon for me to see a Brazilian film, since they're always poorly executed, produced and acted-- and I'm Brazilian. "Paraísos Artificiais" is no exception; bad acting from most actors-- only a few did their job with quality. Directing is just poor and lifeless. Producing is lame, you can easily notice the parties aren't real since the ravers all do the same thing at the same time, which reminds us they rehearsed to do that. Story is vague and shallow. Rave is a good subject and with a professional production team it could have been a thousand times better! However, comparing "Paraísos Artificiais" to other Brazilian movies, it is not THAT bad. Just simply bad. Avoid it.