''Durval Discos'' is a 2002 Brazilian absurdist

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

film written and directed by

Anna Muylaert Ana Luiza Machado da Silva Muylaert (born 21 April 1964), known professionally as Anna Muylaert, is a Brazilian film and television director, producer and screenwriter. Education and early career Anna studied filmmaking at the School of Communi ...

shot in

Pinheiros Pinheiros (, "pine trees") is a district in the subprefecture of the same name in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Prior to development, the land which this borough occupies was dominated by the dense forest which contained a Brazilian subtropi ...

, a borough of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. The film is noticeable for its soundtrack made up of 1970s Brazilian music that reflects the protagonist's taste, as he is himself a hippie, as well as André Abujamra's original score, more present in the film's second, darker half. The shift of mood from the first part to the second was advertised as life's A and B sides, a reference to the film's homage to LPs. Abujamra makes a small comical appearance as the character Fat Marley and Brazilian rock singer

Rita Lee Rita Lee Jones (31 December 1947 – 8 May 2023) was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Known as the " Queen of Brazilian Rock", she sold more than 55 million records, making her the most successful female artist by reco ...

also has a brief cameo as an eccentric customer who forgets to take the vinyl she has just bought. Some of the records shown in the store include

Caetano Veloso Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicália, which encompas ...

's white, signed 1969 album and

Tim Maia Sebastião "Tim" Rodrigues Maia (; 28 September 1942 – 15 March 1998) was a Brazilian musician, songwriter, and businessman known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and humorous musical style. Maia contributed to Brazilian music withi ...

's ''Racional'', a two-volume album highly sought in Brazil due to its cult status.

Plot

In the late 1990s, Durval (Ary França) is a middle-aged man who owns a record store in the first floor of his overbearing mother's (Etty Fraser) house. A typical

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

, Durval refuses to sell CDs despite the decline in customers. He notices his mother is not giving as much attention to cooking and house chores as she once did, and suggests they hire a maid, a task which is tricky since they are only willing to pay 100

reais The Brazilian real ( pl. '; sign: R$; code: BRL) is the official currency of Brazil. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil is the central bank and the issuing authority. The real replaced the cruzeiro real in 1994. ...

. A young woman (Letícia Sabatella) finally appears willing to take on the job, but disappears after one day. They soon discover that she left a little girl called Kiki and a note asking them to take care of her for a few days. Durval and his mother become attached to Kiki, but soon discover she is actually the daughter of a wealthy family from the countryside who has been kidnapped.

Cast

* Ary França as Durval * Etty Fraser as Carmita * Marisa Orth as Elisabeth * Letícia Sabatella as Célia *

as Tia Julieta * Isabela Guasco as Kiki * André Abujamra as Fat Marley * Theo Werneck as DJ Theo * Regina Remencius as Mãe de Kiki * Marcelo Mansfield as salesman

Soundtrack

# Mestre Jonas - Os Mulheres Negras # Que Maravilha -

Jorge Ben Jorge Duílio Lima Menezes (born March 22, 1939) is a Brazilian popular musician, performing under the stage name Jorge Ben Jor since the 1980s, though commonly known by his former stage name Jorge Ben (). Performing in a samba style that also ...

# Maracatu Atômico -

Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Ministry of Culture (Brazil), Minister of ...

# Madalena -

Elis Regina Elis Regina Carvalho Costa (March 17, 1945 – January 19, 1982), known professionally as Elis Regina (), was a Brazilian singer of Bossa nova, Música popular brasileira, MPB and jazz music. She is also the mother of the singers Maria Rita and ...

# Irene -

# Ovelha Negra -

# Back in Bahia -

# Alfômega -

# Besta É Tu - Novos Baianos #

Xica da Silva ''Xica'' () is a 1976 Brazilian comedy film directed and written by Carlos Diegues, based on the novel by João Felício dos Santos, which is a romanticized retelling of the true story of Chica da Silva,http://dicionarioegramatica.com/2015/12/ ...

# London, London -

Gal Costa Gal Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos (born Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos; 26 September 1945 – 9 November 2022), known professionally as Gal Costa (), was a Brazilian singer of Música popular brasileira, popular music. Twelve-times Bra ...

Pérola Negra Pérola is a municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area ...

- Luiz Melodia # Mestre Jonas - Sá, Rodrix & Guarabyra

's "Imunização Racional (Que Beleza)" does not appear in the soundtrack album, but is present in the film. The song "Mestre Jonas", present in the film's opening sequence, relates to the film's story through its lyrics. In the song, Jonas lives inside a whale, which acts as a protection shell (in an allusion to the biblical story of

Jonah Jonah the son of Amittai or Jonas ( , ) is a Jewish prophet from Gath-hepher in the Northern Kingdom of Israel around the 8th century BCE according to the Hebrew Bible. He is the central figure of the Book of Jonah, one of the minor proph ...

). Similarly, Durval refuses to move on with the times or move out of his mother's house.

References

External links

* {{Festival de Gramado Best Picture Award 2002 films 2002 directorial debut films 2002 black comedy films Brazilian black comedy films Absurdist fiction Films directed by Anna Muylaert Films shot in São Paulo 2000s Portuguese-language films 2000s Brazilian films