I've had a passing fascination for Elis Regina for many years and was very surprised to see this film advertised on Amazon Prime Video as I had not heard anything about it. I immediately assumed it was a documentary because of its lack of promotion in Europe, so you could imagine my surprise when I started playing it and saw a list of actors in the opening credits.
This biographical film explores the professional and personal life of the singer Elis Regina. It offers a trip into the atmosphere of the Bresil of the sixties and the seventies.
It's hard to imagine a better performance in the role of Elis Regina than the one turned in here by Andreia Horta. She even looks like Elis and captures her radiant smile perfectly.
Andréia Horta is riviting. Top 10 best film performances by an actress, ever.
A great assortment of badly told facts, actors who dub the studio song and a sad vision about Elis Regina. In all, a story badly told.
When Elis passed away in 1982, people and talked about an involuntary, casual overdose: she was kinda "first-time sailor," the media never spoke of suicide. The writers of this film, however, reveal that she had been using drugs since long before (the mid sixties to be precise) and did commit suicide, driven by a chronic, deep depression.
What a beautiful and touching movie! The sensitiveness of the director amazed me as he was able to show this great singer as an idol and a human being at the same time.
Elis was a strong woman, a woman of attitude, with a lot of opinions who lived a short and intense life. Among all this, she was one of the best singers of Brazil.
