Why we recommend it
A crossover of genres, the film takes the western to the backlands of Goiás to portray the violent masculinity of men abandoned to their own pettiness. With Babu Santana and Ângelo in the cast, the film also finds a captivating presence in actor Rodger Rogério.
Review
Same Old West manages to accomplish a lot with seemingly few elements. Erico Rassi’s new film is simultaneously full of meaningful silences and quirky, funny dialog, even though it maintains a very realistic nature. It is an intelligent deconstruction of the western genre, with many of its most striking visual symbols, while at the same time offering a profound analysis of masculinity in crisis. It’s a drama, a comedy, a road movie… and a love letter to ”brega sofrência” music. Seriously, the film begins and ends with songs by Nelson Ned, which in itself is a reason to watch it in a movie theater and listen to Tudo Passará at full volume.
The parallels with the western classics already emerge in the first images of the film, which reveal the arid landscape of the backlands of Goiás. And we see the somber figure of Totó (Ângelo Antônio), sitting in his car while he waits for something. A cloud of dust rises, and then another car appears on the dirt road. It’s driven by Durval (Babu Santana), and Totó cuts him off in an ambush. That’s when expectations of the genre are shattered. They both get out of the car and, without saying a word, start fighting. The fight is as violent as it is dull, almost childish. It’s also disproportionate, with the diminutive figure of Totó taking a nasty beating from the giant Durval. Soon afterwards, the most important character in the story appears, even though she only appears on screen for a few seconds. Durval’s car door opens and Luiza gets up from the passenger seat and walks away, leaving the two of them behind. Played by Tuanny Araujo, she is the only woman who appears in the movie. And her simple act of leaving in this scene defines the entire plot. From then on, Same Old West becomes a movie about men. Or rather, of abandoned men.
In this dispute over Luiza’s love, Totó decides to hire someone to kill his rival. The retired gunman and tale-teller Jerominho (Rodger Rogério) promises to take charge of Durval’s murder. But when the plan goes wrong, Totó and Jerominho have to flee together, without knowing for sure if they are being chased by other gunmen. Again, plenty of western clichés. But unlike the almost mythical figures that American bang-bang films created, Erico Rassi’s direction and script make a point of emphasizing how ridiculous these men are. And even a little pathetic. At the same time, it forces us to feel some affection for the characters.
It’s hard not to feel sorry for these boys in grown-up bodies, pretending to be tough guys. “Do you want to see my biceps?”, Jerominho asks Totó while they’re chatting, and he lifts up the sleeve of his baggy shirt to proudly show off his skinny little arm. In fact, in a movie full of good performances, Rodger Rogério creates his most complex and captivating figure in Jerominho. An old man obsessed with his own bad reputation, but unable to hide his vulnerabilities and insecurities. The role was originally to be played by the late Nelson Xavier – who played a similar character in Comeback, another Rassi film. But the director himself shared, in a discussion after the film’s preview, how Rogério impressed him in the audition.
Even so, the whole cast is in tune in creating this environment devoid of women. Each of them, in their words and actions, shows the consequences of living in this small country town, which even though it is inhabited, seems like a ghost town. A colony of sad men, who decorate the streets with garbage dumped with disregard and a little antipathy. They don’t know how to be intimate with anyone, and communicate only with violence. Unable to confess any weakness. “Fatally starved of love”, as Chekhov wrote. But when Nelson Ned starts singing, they suddenly surrender to emotion.
https://youtu.be/1Gay6A1q9Dk?feature=shared
Bruno Weber has a degree in Broadcasting from the Cásper Líbero Foundation and in Audiovisual Production from ETEC Roberto Marinho, and works as a comic artist and film critic. His work can be seen on social media, such as the series ”Unremembered Scenes from Forgotten Films”, autobiographical comic strips and various comics. He also writes film reviews for blogs such as Cinematografia Queer and the Peliplat platform, for which he covered the 48th São Paulo International Film Festival.
