Sexual Senior Citizen Movie From Brazil Out on DVD
The Other Side of the Street Gets Good Reviews
for Actors
Fernanda
Montenegro
June 10, 2005 – A sexy movie about senior citizens,
what will they think of next? The Other Side of the Street was
made in Brazil and stars Academy Award nominated actress Fernanda
Montenegro.
The movie with senior citizen love scenes had a limited release in February and is now
available on DVD. It has received a number of three-star ratings,
based primarily on the acting.
"Montenegro does wonders in her long silences, and makes her
love scene with the eager 72-year-old Cortez look like a hookup
at Club Med," writes Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News.
“The sexuality of senior citizens isn't usually a
subject that gets a fair shake in movies. The Brazilian romantic mystery
The Other Side of the Street succeeds in portraying seniors with
sexual identities and desires, but fails on most other counts,” says
Laura Kelly in a Florida Sun-Sentinel Review.
The Montenegro stars with acclaimed Brazilian actor
Raul Cortez in the movie described by Yahoo movies as “a fresh
perspective on what it means to grow old in a world preoccupied with
youth.”
Steven Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer gives it
three stars. “A wistful twist on Rear Window from Brazilian
writer-director Marcos Bernstein, The Other Side of the Street is about
a divorced 65-year-old who believes she has witnessed a murder, and then
sets out to prove it - by tumbling into a tricky courtship with the man
she thinks is the perp.
“Regina (Montenegro), a grandmother who lives in a
Rio de Janeiro high-rise with her old mutt and her mundane rituals. One
night, scanning the building across the way with binoculars, she sees an
older man give an apparently lethal injection to his wife. Regina calls
the police. She belongs to the "senior service," a squad of retirees who
tip the cops when they see a crime being committed.
“But the man, Carmago (Raul Cortez), is a judge
with connections in government, and the police refuse to pursue the
case. So Regina decides to pursue it herself.
“Although Bernstein plays ably with the mystery
aspects of the tale, what the filmmaker is really driving at is an
examination of people aging and alone: the longing, the idleness, the
need for romance, and the indifference they encounter from society at
large.
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“Boasting a terrific low-key turn from its star,
The Other Side of the Street is full of the stillness, and silences, of
a life that's been muted and shut down. But Montenegro's character has a
spark in her eye, and a determination, that makes this quiet,
intelligent film anything but boring,: according to Rea.
Jessica Reaves of the Chicago Tribune also gives
the show three stars and writes, “Despite its lurid plot possibilities
and tumultuous backdrop, The Other Side of the Street is a
languid, delicate character study; the strengths of the film are found
in the loving yet unsentimental portrayal of its two intensely troubled,
carefully drawn protagonists.”
“Coupling at a certain age brings a complex
tapestry of issues to the table—the bitter aftertaste of previous
marriages, resentful grown children, demanding grandchildren—and while
Hollywood cringes at the thought of investing a pair of over-60s with
erotic motives, they should take note of "The Other Side of the Street."
After all, there is something indescribably heartening about a romance
between two people who know enough pain and disappointment to make them
cynical—and still can see the glorious possibilities of imperfect love.
Wrinkles and all, says Reaves.
The English subtitled movie (spoken in Portuguese) brings back thoughts of
Rear Window, but The Other Side of the Street is more
romance and sly social commentary, "delivered with a raw emotional
punch," says one reviewer. The movie is not rated.
