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Cinderela Baiana

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Wikipedia article




'Cinderela Baiana' (Portuguese for 'Bahian Cinderella') is a 1998 Brazilian semi-fictionalized biographical romantic comedy film directed by Conrado Sanchez (who also wrote the screenplay, even though he was uncredited for it) and produced by Antnio Polo Galante (his last credited work prior to his retirement in the same year). It is a heavily fictionalized biography of dancer Carla Perez, famous for being a former member of 'ax' group o Tchan!. The film is noted for being the debuts of Perez, then-unknown actors Lzaro Ramos and Lucci Ferreira, and musician Alexandre Pires (frontman of samba group S Pra Contrariar and Carla Perez's then-boyfriend) on a feature film, and also counts with cameos by singers Netinho and Ctia Guimma, portraying themselves.

Released in theaters on September 4, 1998, 'Cinderela Baiana' was a critical and commercial failure, and to this day it is considered to be one of the worst films ever made by the Brazilian film industry.

Plot



Carla Perez (portrayed by Carla Fabianny as a child and by herself as an adult) lives with her father Raimundo (Armindo Bio) and unnamed tuberculous mother (Juliana Calil) in a small, poor shack located somewhere in the middle of the 'serto' of Bahia. After her mother dies, Carla and her father decide to move to Salvador in order to achieve better life conditions. Carla, having an innate talent for dancing, soon is spotted by eccentric talent manager Pierre (Perry Salles) and his personal assistant Beto (Val Perr); she is initially enthusiastic about her newly acquired fame, but soon discovers Pierre is an unscrupulous man that is only interested into the profits of exploiting her. Helped by her two vagabond friends, Bucha (Lucci Ferreira) and Chico (Lzaro Ramos), and by her boyfriend, Alexandre Pires (portrayed by himself), she garners the strength to fight Pierre back and live freely as she wishes.

Production



Filming began in June 1998 in the cities of Salvador and Milagres, Bahia.

Critical reception



The film was reviled by critics and the public alike, who criticized Carla Perez's lackluster and amateurish performance, the clichd plot, several narrative inconsistencies and Perry Salles' ridiculously over-the-top acting as Pierre.[http://blogdoheu.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/cinderela-baiana/ 'Blog do Heu: "Cinderela Baiana"] It holds a score of 2.2 out of 10 at the Internet Movie Database and of 2 out of 5 at Filmow, based on 1,146 votes (as of March 2018).[http://filmow.com/cinderela-baiana-t8444/ 'Cinderela Baiana Filmow] Carla Perez announced in 2008 that she had disowned the film, saying that she "regretted it as an actress", and by her request it was ultimately withdrawn from circulation a couple of years after its release; thus being, original physical copies of the film are extremely rare and very difficult to obtain. However, it has found its way to survive via websites, being uploaded in its entirety to YouTube on January 30, 2013.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gswoPpmheBA Cinderela Baiana (Filme Completo Nacional)] The film has acquired a small cult following, with excerpts of it being widely used as a source for YouTube Poops in Brazil. According to researcher Arthur Autran, the film sold a little over 50,000 VHS copies prior to its recall.[http://www.contracampo.com.br/27/cinderela.htm Duas ou trs coisas sobre 'Cinderela Baiana']

On March 15, 2010, Brazilian magazine 'Veja' made a list of the top 10 worst Brazilian films of all time, and 'Cinderela Baiana' was featured in first place. The list's author, Pollyane Lima e Silva, stated: "[T]he idea of giving an 'ax' dancer (it doesn't matter how 'good' people think she is) a biopic was plain wrong since its inception". She also referred to the movie as being "cringeworthy".

Brazilian writer, blogger and film critic Renzo Mora included 'Cinderela Baiana' in his 2009 book '25 Filmes que Podem Arruinar a Sua Vida!' .[http://renzomora.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/todo-mundo-esta-falando-de-filmes-ruins/ 'Todo Mundo Est Falando de Filmes Ruins']. renzomora.wordpress.com. 4 February 2010 Commenting about it, he wrote that "it was the worst one among the other 24".[http://advivo.com.br/comentario/re-o-pior-filme-do-mundo-50 'Os 25 piores filmes do mundo']. Brasilianas.org. 20 May 2011

In December 2015, "fans" of the film started a humorous petition for it to be streamed by Netflix. As of February 2016, it has proven to be unsuccessful.

Despite the film's overwhelmingly negative reception, Lzaro Ramos stated on a 2015 interview that he "doesn't regret taking part in it" and that thanks to the salary he received, he was able to quit his day job as a pathology laboratory technician and pay for acting lessons.

On August 7, 2016, the film was featured in 12th place on a list of the top 20 worst movies of all time made by Brazilian newspaper 'O Estado de S. Paulo',[http://fotos.estadao.com.br/galerias/cultura,os-20-piores-filmes-de-todos-os-tempos,26549# Os 20 piores filmes de todos os tempos], 'O Estado de S. Paulo' and in 2018 it appeared in first place in the list of the "three best worst Brazilian movies" by magazine 'Superinteressante'.

Notes



References




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