Drained (2006)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

As Good As It Gets

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A great film! More than a great movie it's a very good metaphor to the materialistic and "cold" society we have nowadays, never caring about people's feelings, but about money and power through money instead. The film is full of irony and sarcastic humor and criticizes very well those people who think they can buy everything with their money, even other people. Even the title (which literary translated means "The smell of the drain") is sarcastically humorous and a metaphor to characterize such people, without any character, scrupulous, or even feelings! The acting by Selton Mello, which plays LOURENÇO, the main character, is excellent! The whole plot is around his character but he does it very well, because he can really be an annoying and irritating character (having that personality I did refer before). The work done by Paula Braun is also very good (and, by the way, she's beautiful!), but I must say I didn't like very much to watch her character fall into LOURENÇO's will, I mean, at the end she does exactly what he wants her to do, when before she had shown a strong character refusing his "indecent proposal": receive some money to show her ass! Of course it's a way this movie has to show us that in this "rotten society" money can really buy anything, and even change people's mind; but I didn't appreciate to watch this changing in the "GARÇONETE" character anyway.The soundtrack is also fine.It's a very simple movie, but works very well as a metaphor, so I score it 8/10.

This movie is very uncommon for Brazilian productions. It is based on a very interesting plot, regarding a man and his obsessions (the smell of a sewer, the butt of a restaurant waitress), and how he deals with different people who want to sell all kind of crazy things.Although the movie may seem superficial and shallow at first, it actually has subtle messages portraying a desperate and lonely man, who tries to find relief in the material world, but realizes that the problem is within himself.Finally, I would recommend this movie to everyone who wants to see another kind of Brazilian films, one which is not pure drama or pure comedy, and which tells a story in a very different way.

It is great how the movie and the book analyze the hypocrisy of a beautifully masked society. And just like the main message of the film, it is perfectly "acted" by everyone (actors and "characters").The movie contains an ambiguous quality that fits like hand gloves what I call "the history of human-bullshit recycling", and with the depiction of the "butt worship" it makes an intentional "not pleasant" wonderful piece of entertainment.In Brazil, men love a big and round behind (mainly women's!). However, this "passion" hides its own fragrance! And anyone must admit, like any society, despite its attractive, round, pompous, juicy, (maybe) tanned and hot looks, there's always the inner (behind the mask)essence, which is not only ignored (or dumped) but also wrapped and hidden from all senses.No one loves dirty things, but when given a nice shape and looks we all end up eating and swallowing it, hence McDonald's worldwide success, the never ending corruption in politics, prejudice, the murdering of great pacifists, fake modesty, humanity's attraction to violence, and most of Hollywood remakes!The search for a meaningful human existence is finally over! It all comes down to worn out dippers!

I felt odd about the movie. I know deep down I both hated it and loved it and I certainly can't stop thinking about it. It really is a sarcastic masterpiece, but very hard to watch. I didn't find it particularly funny in the spots where the audience laughed the most, and often felt horrified. I haven't read the book, which I'm sure is fantastic. Being lucky enough to have lived in Brazil for 7 years in the past, (e sim, eu falo Portuguese), I felt more and more the satiric edge of the main character as a metaphor for the worst things about Brazil lovingly portrayed by a master-- the obsession with the bunda over the female (that scene where he doesn't recognise he is not speaking to his favorite waitress till she turns around was incredible); the buying of worthless, often superstitious items over things really of value (100 rieis for a Stradavarius!?); the man constantly saying, "that smell is not from me, it's the drain;" (that line is especially deep and frightening and I understood it well); him giving all that money for the gun in a scene that looks like robbery; the fake father (leg and eye);his horrible treatment of the weak and helpless and poor; the growing obsession with the smell of his own excrement. I know the movie is a masterpiece-- the trouble is its view of the world through that glass eye is one I, too, would prefer to leave in the next room, perhaps.