Famous and the Dead, The

By: Amos Lassen

Set in a small town in the south of Brazil, we meet Mr. Tambourine Man, a teen who spends his days at school, surfing the internet and smoking dope with Diego, his best friend. He dreams of leaving home and meeting his idol, Bob Dylan. We see a different Brazil here-no sambas, no carnival. Instead we get a teen who wants to leave home to see the world, specifically to see Bob Dylan.

For a first full length film, director Esmir Filho makes quite a debut; the story of an adolescent trying to find himself. This is a somewhat dark film and Henrique Larre as the un-named Mr. Tambourine Man is quite a discovery. He and Diego (Samuel Reginatto) live in a place called Teutonia which was founded by German immigrants. Diego has had a bit of tragedy in his life; his sister killed herself by jumping off a bridge and this weighs on him. Tambourine Man identified with the dead girl and she appears in videos.

Then there is our unnamed main character's mother played by Aurea Baptista who is mourning the loss of her husband and comes across as dysfunctional.

The scenery and the dialogues are spectacular but the real action of the movie begins when Julian, the ex-boyfriend of Diego's sister appears and Tambourine Man is mesmerized by this presence. This is a film that concentrates on emotions rather than story and because of that I cannot say anymore about the plot. Everything works because the director is on top of everything.

Do we classify this as a coming f age movie? I am not sure how to classify it or to what genre it belongs. To me it is enough to say that it is a film worth seeing and it is recommended for all.