The Man Who Copied

C+

Directed by Jorge Furtado

"The Man Who Copied" is the rarest of rare cinematic breeds--the Brazilian Romantic Comedy/Heist flic, and as far as Brazilian Romantic Comedy/Heist flics go, it's probably the best one Ive ever seen. Oh wait, it's the ONLY one I've ever seen. In fact, it's the only Brazilian Romantic comedy OR heist flic I've ever seen. Maybe I need to start getting into Brazilian cinema...

"The Man Who Copied" is a young man by the name of Andre, who works as, you guessed it, a photocopier operator in a family run shop in Porto Allegre. He lives with his mom in a rundown two bedroom apartment where he spends his nights working on illustrations and spying on the beautiful Silvia, his love interest who lives several blocks away in a high rise apartment complex, through binoculars. Creepy.

Andre eventually works up the nerve to speak to Silvia and they begin an awkward relationship that is marred by Andre's disovery that Silvia's father is a crook and may be molesting her. Deciding that he needs to get Silvia out of Porto Allegre, he plans to marry her but lacking sufficient funds, concocts a rather rudimentary plan to rob an armored truck. Things, unsurprisingly, go wary and Andre is left in a spot of trouble.

"The Man Who Copied" is not at all an unpleasant cinemtic experience. The light, and very PG-esque, romance that develops between Andre and Silvia is endearing and fun to watch unfold, even though it doesn't have much ring of truth to it, insofar as life long romances rarely get started by the earnest yet illegal efforts of Peeping Toms. What dooms this film to mediocrity, however, si the lazy handling of the second part of the film where Andre carries out his "get rich quick scheme." The inevitable troubles he runs into get glossed over fairly quickly, leaving me with the impression that stealing $2 Million dollars from heavily armed guards is not only a pretty simple get rich quick scheme, but also a fairly safe one. Furthermore, the supporting cast around Andre and Silivia are almost inconsequential to the film and bring basically nothing to enrich the overall experience. The film is also one that clocks in at around 90 minutes but feels like it lasted 15. I have no trouble with brisk films, but there is certainly a difference between "brisk" and "thin."