If you are looking for a mellow, soft, blockbuster movie, certainly amarelo Manga is not the one. No one is assassinated in this movie, but there are really strong scenes. This does not mean that the movie is only for the strong hearted. NOT! Amarelo Manga shows how life can be yellow, not golden beautiful yellow, but mango rotten one. The plotline happens in the outskirts of Recife, capital of Pernambuco, one of the biggest cities in the Northeast, and one of the poorest region of Brazil. Five people connected in stories of love, betrayal, work, and desire. Each one with his own problems and crazyness, something that is not for from our daily reality. Even though 80% of the directing, acting, photography is amazing, the other 20% of extremely bad moments can put some people off. But, movies lovers will like this different style, something that cannot be found not only in Hollywood mainstream movies (all exactly the same), but also is not found in Woody Allen, Kiarostami, Almodovar, Rohmer, Dardeene, etc. movies. And this is why worth a lot seeing this movie: is something that is different from what you have already seen before. The whole experience is new and worthwhile, in the last 5 minutes of the movie one will have an excellent surprise, with one of the best editing and directing in Brazil film history. This movie is receiving excellent reviews from critics, and I hope it gets to theathers around the world, to open more the doors of brazilian cinema to everybody who wants to experience it.
15 Reviews
Don't be afraid to watch it
MindDazer19 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
People have done some terrible comments saying that it's one of the worst films they've ever seen and even telling other people not to waste their time watching it. I guess they didn't get the spirit of the film. It's NOT supposed to have a moral ending like most hollywoodian movies have. It just enters the lives of some people and how they connect at some point. The phrase in the ending reveals a lot about the meaning of the movie. It tells that there are some days that everything happens... changes are needed after some drastic events, dreams are crushed, etc. Despite that, life goes on. The world continues its existence no matter what have just happened to you and to those around you. I especially admired how the life of the butcher's wife changed after that day. From a super-religious woman, a very "correct" person, she changed to a sex maniac, thus exposing the true nature of her mind. There are some really interesting characters in this movie, with the priest being my favorite. I think his wisdom is just astonishing. Kinda anti-religious as someone commented here. Many movies have religious propaganda and you don't see anyone complaining about it. So, It's NOT a waste of time IF you watch without expectations, just "drink" the film the way it is and you'll like it.
That's what the Brazilian Northeast is all about!!!
dricelo22 August 2006
Warning: Spoilers
One of the main features of this movie is that it fully depicts what the Brazilian northeast is all about. Little can someone understand the movie by just reading the subtitles (especially when they are badly done, which is the case of this movie). Much of the intensity is conveyed through the language used by the actors. So, if you knew Portuguese, that'd help a lot. However, I do agree it's not a family movie and it'll surely shock the sensitive. Because of the fact that the movie portrays no main characters or a story, or because the characters wind up entwining along the story, it may seem to drag. Among a butcher, a Protestant, a homosexual, tramps, perverts, and others, the movie explicitly shows that colors play an important role in our lives, especially the yellow, which is the color of the most awful things there are in life. That's the sort of movie which most likely leaves you thinking how low can one go. Also, you'll either like it or hate it. No matter what, it'll cause you some kind of reaction as the movie ends.
Brutal, but honest.
tomifost20 November 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I'm giving this more stars than I normally would to counter-balance the bad reviews left by people who were only grossed out by it. I definitely can see why some people thought it to be obscene, but I think the directors choice of crassness is only one aspect of the film and criticisms of the film should keep that in mind. While many of the scenes are shocking, I didn't see them as completely non sequitur or senselessly gratuitous. Honestly, I've been more disgusted with watching local nightly news than this film. In the world we live in cows get slaughtered, angry sex can get weird, and people can be cold-blooded. I suppose I have a very liberal acceptance of film, but human beings are capable of odd and strange things; this film does not shy away from that. This is not a romantic comedy, it is an independent film based in the slums of Brazil.
Raw and realistic
denistomaz3 January 2021
Beautiful movie from Cinema de Retake...
RosanaBotafogo12 June 2021
The experience was hampered by the quality of the pirated work, with low quality audio and image, but enough to taste a beautiful work, the Brazilianness and its ills, sensual nudity, well-developed script, a simple story, almost caricatured, but broken, representative and cotiana, highlighting the performances, big names in cinema, delivering extraordinary staging, it couldn't be different from that... Beautiful movie from Cinema de Retake... THE COVER, vagina, it took me a while to realize.
Boring Exploitation of Sex
claudio_carvalho15 June 2008
In a poor neighborhood in Recife, the lives of exotic and bizarre characters entwine in a bar and in a very low-budget hotel. The queer Dunga (Matheus Nachtergaele) works in the hotel and has a crush on the butcher Wellington (Chico Diaz) that is married with the religious Kika (Dira Paes) and has an affair with his mistress Dayse (Magdale Alves). The sick necrophiliac Isaac (Jonas Bloch) owns a yellow Mercedes Benz and wants to have sex with Lígia (Leona Cavalli) that owns of Bar Avenida.
"Amarelo Manga" is practically the debut of director Cláudio Assis, at least this movie made him famous in Brazil, but actually is a boring exploitation of sex and low level situations. The nudity and sex scenes are absolutely unnecessary and have only the intention of shocking the audiences and most of them are free, like for example, the scenes of the asthmatic fat woman in the hotel; of the sex scene between Kika and Isaac with the hair brush; or Lígia taking her clothes off after closing her bar. I do not like this Brazilian director but many professional critics love him. The cast has great performances but the story is terrible. My vote is five.
Title (Brazil): "Amarelo Manga" ("Mango Yellow")
"Amarelo Manga" is practically the debut of director Cláudio Assis, at least this movie made him famous in Brazil, but actually is a boring exploitation of sex and low level situations. The nudity and sex scenes are absolutely unnecessary and have only the intention of shocking the audiences and most of them are free, like for example, the scenes of the asthmatic fat woman in the hotel; of the sex scene between Kika and Isaac with the hair brush; or Lígia taking her clothes off after closing her bar. I do not like this Brazilian director but many professional critics love him. The cast has great performances but the story is terrible. My vote is five.
Title (Brazil): "Amarelo Manga" ("Mango Yellow")
Bleak and pointless
guillaumebarreau11 October 2003
I went to see this film based on the favourable comments from other Imdb users but I hated it. I am a foreigner living in Brazil and I can tell you that if I saw Brazil the way the director does, I would be on the next plane out of here. I thought the film was insulting, showing the misery in the most degrading and despising way. I am not denying of course that this misery exists but I don't think that the lower class is as repugnant as the film wants to portray it. Religious beliefs, which probably helps a lot of poor people cope with a harsh reality, is shown as a superficial veneer on top of some badly repressed bestiality. In the middle of a film which portrays all its characters as a bunch of near animals, there is a shot where a man is reading a book by Nietzsche. Was this irony? A "clin d'oeil" of the director to his middle class audience? I didn't know what to make of this.
There have been some really good brazilian films lately (eu,tu,eles, central do Brasil,...) but this is not one of them. In fact it seems like a return to the really crap 70s brazilian films where compulsive swearing, unrealistic emotional intensity from beginning to end and any excuse to show a woman's pubic hair were the main ingredients.
There have been some really good brazilian films lately (eu,tu,eles, central do Brasil,...) but this is not one of them. In fact it seems like a return to the really crap 70s brazilian films where compulsive swearing, unrealistic emotional intensity from beginning to end and any excuse to show a woman's pubic hair were the main ingredients.
Postcards from Hell on Earth
Ferdinando7 July 2003
This is one of the best brazilian movies I have ever seen. The way the characters' stories get connected to each other along the movie is really amazing. Some of all the poverty, violence and social disease so common at a humble landscape of Brazil is depicted on the screen through a great script and dazzling photography. Although the sharp sense of humour of some characters this movie contains the right amount of reality that some people may not feel comfortable to watch. For those who have the guts, this motion picture is a perfect portrait of a brazilian unfair society that may remain in the mind of the audiences for quite along. Shocking, hilarious and tough. Two thumbs up!
what's the meaning of this show?
Kingdommm19 September 2004
Warning: Spoilers
I watched this as part of the Brazilian film fest here in SG. This show had good rating on IMDb so the cinema was quite packed. The cinematography and transition was very avant-garde. But that's where the praise ends.
The show started off slowly and it only became slower. *spoilers* I didn't get most of the parts - the shooting of a dead man. - the killing of a young calf. - the asthmatic who used the oxygen mask for her genitals etc
What did these all mean? Perhaps this show is esoteric and I'm not arty to understand the show. But to give it a weighted average rating of 7.2 (as of Sept 2004) is ridiculous!
The show started off slowly and it only became slower. *spoilers* I didn't get most of the parts - the shooting of a dead man. - the killing of a young calf. - the asthmatic who used the oxygen mask for her genitals etc
What did these all mean? Perhaps this show is esoteric and I'm not arty to understand the show. But to give it a weighted average rating of 7.2 (as of Sept 2004) is ridiculous!
And the point is...?
Ntumbuluku11 March 2005
To comment on the moribund nature of society? If that's what you're into then watch the evening news and save two hours of your life. It is rare that I watch a movie and feel that it fails to portray any kind of worthwhile social commentary--especially when the movie, from the beginning, seems determined to try to do so. Amarelo Manga becomes an unintentional parody of sweeping social commentary and fades, instead, into fascination with the sexually deviant. I give it three stars because Matheus Nachtergaele gives a memorable performance as a gay hotel tramp who is always trying to involve himself in others' affairs (and get them involved in his). His performance notwithstanding, this movie is not worth the time.
The cast is great, but the director is not that ripe yet...
Benedict_Cumberbatch16 January 2008
Cláudio Assis won several awards at festivals for his feature debut, "Amarelo Manga" aka "Mango Yellow". His mosaic about some very troubled lives starts intriguing, and the talented, versatile cast (Matheus Nachtergaele, Chico Diaz, Dira Paes, Jonas Bloch and Leona Cavalli) keeps our attention till the end. However, Assis fails on the same aspects as other pretense "provocateurs", such as Sérgio Bianchi ("Chronically Unfeasible") and Larry Clark ("Kids" seemed to have some honesty, but "Ken Park" is one of the most unnecessary flicks ever made): excessive nudity (I actually think there should be MORE nudity in films, since nudity should be treated as natural by everybody; but this movie is a great example of how nudity should not be presented), too much visual and verbal masturbation for pure shock factor. I'm far from being a prude and that's why I admire directors like Todd Solondz, Lars von Trier, Pedro Almodóvar and Gregg Araki, just to name a few, who know how to provoke without being shallow, unlike Cláudio.
People like Tata Amaral, Jorge Furtado, Beto Brant (and let's not even mention the internationally acclaimed Hector Babenco, Walter Salles and Fernando Meirelles), have made thought-provoking, intelligent films, without being gratuitous or shallow. They are the real provocateurs in Brazilian cinema, something that Assis and Sérgio Bianchi haven't proved to be, yet. There's more to a provocateur than "sex and stomach": wit is essential to the mixture, Mr. Assis. 3/10.
People like Tata Amaral, Jorge Furtado, Beto Brant (and let's not even mention the internationally acclaimed Hector Babenco, Walter Salles and Fernando Meirelles), have made thought-provoking, intelligent films, without being gratuitous or shallow. They are the real provocateurs in Brazilian cinema, something that Assis and Sérgio Bianchi haven't proved to be, yet. There's more to a provocateur than "sex and stomach": wit is essential to the mixture, Mr. Assis. 3/10.
Awful movie!
mtaraskevicius11 June 2008
This is one of the worst movies I have ever watched. Do not waste your time and money on this movie. The movie is basically about random weird stuff that doesn't make any sense. For example, one character got a dead body from the local morgue so he could shoot at it. Does that make any sense to any one of you? Very sad. I regret wasting 90 minutes of my life on this trash, so don't do the same. Too bad because the casting is good, and it surprises me that they would be involved in such a bad movie.But if you like weird movies that do not have a story you can follow, then it's the perfect movie for you. If you want to watch a good Brazilian movie, watch the "Auto da Compadecida", but please stay away from "Amarelo Manga".
Not enjoyable.
planktonrules17 April 2014
This was a thoroughly disgusting and pointless film and I am not sure how folks could watch and praise it. The movie is filled with disgusting and wretchedness. Were these sentiments strong enough to hopefully keep you from seeing this film---I sure hope so! My thorough disgust for the film isn't because it shows the lowest elements of Brazilian society-- after all, I was quick to praise films like CITY OF GOD and CENTRAL STATION--and these films were violent and scary. However, their portrayals of the violence and cheapness of life in the lowest social strata were meant to be eye-opening and document the horrors--not provide a voyeuristic chamber of horrors meant only to turn our stomachs. I won't even begin to describe all the viscerally vile images from MANGO YELLOW--partly because they make me ill just thinking about it and partly because I could only take the movie to a certain point, then I made myself get up and turn it off! It truly seems to try to alienate much of its audience.
If you want a similar experience, go to a slaughterhouse (it's already in the film) or stare at feces (it's also in the film and is apparently eaten by one of the scum in the film). Yuck.
If you want a similar experience, go to a slaughterhouse (it's already in the film) or stare at feces (it's also in the film and is apparently eaten by one of the scum in the film). Yuck.
Needlessly depressing
forropdx23 July 2018
I do not recommend this film and as another reviewer has stated, it is not a good representation of the country or even the city of Recife, Brazil. It is needlessly depressing. If you can take the movie as a criticism of life itself, it could have more meaning. The stereotypes and innuendos depicted about Brazilian life are not characteristic of the subject. The spiritual journey of the main character is depicted as a positive one, but it suggests that the only escape available for her is to have a solitary life.
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