Once Upon a Time in Rio (2008)

Perfect cast and a good story

Memorable, crazy movie

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Strongly based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, this movie had everything to be cliché. The old story about the rich girl who falls in love with the poor, ignorant boy. Add to that the fact that it is another one of those " favela ( slum ) movies " that appear each time more in Brazil, and you could say " I've already seen that ", before even watching. Except it isn't cliché, nor it is a favela movie. It's beyond that. It speaks out loud, on characters reactions to the main stars relationship, so many opinions, prejudices, that most of us have inside us, but don't even realize, because a story like this doesn't happen to everyone.It shows how " This side ", the rich side, because of its prejudices and fears, oppress, misjudge, and ends up destroying lives, or even creating the criminals we fear.Some people say the main character decisions are stupid. They aren't. The main character is someone who grew up in the favela, in fear, thinking he would never be like someone from " the beach ", the other side of town, and in the present is this oppressed person, who is embarrassed even to reveal to the girl he likes he works at the beach stand. And this affects he's decisions, since he always thinks the rich people will not understand him, and that he must fear them.The ending has caused many controversy. Many people hated it, thought it was fake and over the top. I don't agree. Had the ending been the other way, it would still be a nice movie, but that's it. It wouldn't be this incredibly strong story. Maybe in real life things wouldn't have happened exactly like in the ending, but that's not the point. The ending was supposed to be poetic, and synthesizes many of the points brought up during the story.Overall, it's a story full of clichés, but still refreshing and beautiful, with a very strong and poetic ending, although not very easy to swallow, and not the most feel-good either.

Great plot, story and topic. Following the current trend, the "favela" environment is portrayed with great fidelity, and the same goes for the lifestyle of Rio's young riches. Action scenes are also great and certainly scrape your back from the seats. All the ingredients are there for a great movie. And it could definitely have been one. There are two main reasons it was not:1. The spectator is not convinced of the true love that must have existed between the main characters for the film to be trustworthy. Most probable cause of this is the lack of key elements to evidence this connection (e.g. scenes where their fundamental values are shown to be similar). This cripples the actors' in their attempt to share screen chemistry.2. The Romeo and Juliet inspiration is clear throughout the movie. This inspiration was definitely key in creating such a compelling story, but it seems that there was a failure to notice that, at a certain point, the film was already good enough to stand on its own. Because of this, we can almost feel the chains of the original Shakespeare story holding back the development of the movie. Of course there is a very interesting similarity between the two worlds, but allowing the modern story to creatively deviate from the original one would have definitely been a good idea.All in all, it's one of those movies that - instead of making you mad for having watched such a bad film - it makes you terribly disappointed for not being able to enjoy a piece of art that could have been so much greater. Which, for many movie fans, is even worse.

Breno Silveira invests in emotion and simplicity to build a story whose theme - economic and social inequality - is very complex and important to Brazilian society. Maybe the film is not reference for the viewer to drive down into the issue itself, but, of course, he will be touched by the story and the motivations of the characters.Thiago Martins embodies Dé with great sensitivity, bringing a bit of history of the actor, also resident of a slum, to the character. He is the soul of the movie, he makes us to believe in the history of the couple, even in the most unlikely clichés moments. One of the most moving scenes is when Dé say to Nina's ex-boyfriend, a rich guy, on its status as a worker, a seller of hot-dog. At that point we visualize the millions of underemployed poorly paid, ignored by society, surviving in precarious housing in the country.The end of the film has caused controversy. Some think outside the tone, exaggerated. I am not of that opinion. I think the final is poetic, emblematic, a request for assistance on behalf of love. Maybe some accused Breno Silveira of being naive, simplistic, but I think that is the price that he pays to be popular. We can not accuse him of lack of talent. Breno knows how to tell a story, how to reach the hearts of viewers.

Im Brazilian and I usually like the Brazilians titles like Tropa De Elite or Cidade De Deus that are grade 10 movies ...But Era Uma Vez... is for sure the worst title I have seen in the last 5 years! the story is really bad and the end is ridiculous! Seriusly, if I tried to do a worst end I wouldn't be capable of ... The thing that really upset me is that during the film there are many smartest thing to the characters to do but they always choose the stupid options ! If I had seen from minute 1 to 80 I would give a grade 6 ... but after those last 10 minutes I just didn't gave 0 because the minimum is 1 ...Well this is mine opinion ... fell free to comment