My theory is that they tried for a good Portuguese film and ended up doing a bad American one. Not even the nudity can save it. The rhythm is awful, I heard people snoring on the cinema, the acting is unnaturally forced and the plot tries so hard to resemble an American action film (with scenes in Afganisthan hahah)that it becomes laughable on scenes it wasn't supposed to be funny at all. And all the cars are Skodas!! What sort of hit-man drives a Skoda?! But José Wallenstein is very good as a drag queen and Nicolau Breyner does the job as an actor, no surprises there! I understand this film should be seen as a fantasy, the director's fantasy of making an "action movie", but it doesn't deliver anything worth the 5 euros you pay to see it!
9 Reviews
Almost decent..
nossofilme3 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
"Oh, I can tell what they tried to do here, but didn't work." This is what you will be thinking every minute of this film. Its probably very low budget but thats no excuse for the spelling and grammatical mistakes when they speak or write in English.
This could have been a good Austin Powers type Spoof, but takes itself seriously which is not working. However there are amusing moments with Vitor Norte, and the bald guy whatever his name was.
Was funny to see the guy from "Mano", playing a surprisingly convincing bad guy, and Nicolau Breyner's undeniably great acting gives some of the film a bit of credibility.
All in all not worth 5 euros to watch but better than sitting at home when you've exhausted all the other films.
This could have been a good Austin Powers type Spoof, but takes itself seriously which is not working. However there are amusing moments with Vitor Norte, and the bald guy whatever his name was.
Was funny to see the guy from "Mano", playing a surprisingly convincing bad guy, and Nicolau Breyner's undeniably great acting gives some of the film a bit of credibility.
All in all not worth 5 euros to watch but better than sitting at home when you've exhausted all the other films.
Good start but not good enough ..
edgarpenaa18 July 2009
I saw the popularity that this movie was having and well i decided to give it a try and watch it . .
I think this a good start for the Portuguese movie industry because i had never seen nothing of this kind in Portuguese movies and i can say that Portugal is quite close to achieve a good quality production of movies, however this movie comparing with the world movies simply isn't good. . the story is not creative, the parts that contain nudity didn't had to bee so much and it shouldn't had always that annoying music when they were having sex, the explosion of the car was terrible and there were lots of fails when someone was killed because it seemed that the blood was dry .
By the way about the acting Pedro Granger is an awful actor never seen such a bad representation, and i'm tired to see Nicolau Brayner in all Portuguese movies it's just annoying .
I think this a good start for the Portuguese movie industry because i had never seen nothing of this kind in Portuguese movies and i can say that Portugal is quite close to achieve a good quality production of movies, however this movie comparing with the world movies simply isn't good. . the story is not creative, the parts that contain nudity didn't had to bee so much and it shouldn't had always that annoying music when they were having sex, the explosion of the car was terrible and there were lots of fails when someone was killed because it seemed that the blood was dry .
By the way about the acting Pedro Granger is an awful actor never seen such a bad representation, and i'm tired to see Nicolau Brayner in all Portuguese movies it's just annoying .
James Bond AH AH type of movie AH AH AH!
mario_c15 January 2009
Peter Oliveira (played by Pedro Lima) is a hit-man that is hired to kill Giorgios Thanassos a powerful man, protected by personal security and owner of a great fortune. It's his first job in Portugal, but for a professional like him, an expert hit-man also known as Mr Shade, it's just one more job that he'll do with extreme precision... NOT! STOP IT RIGHT THERE! James Bond Type of movie! Ah ah ah! You must be kidding me! Why deceive the Portuguese viewer with something it is not! And never could be with this poor, I mean POOR, quality! OK, I know it's a low cost production, made in a few days, with little money; it's probably its only excuse, but then why deceive people inducing them to believe it has quality and connecting it to something it could have never been connected?! Action movie?! James Bond's genre?! "Adventure"?! Come on! The movie is terribly slow paced; it has cheap drama totally disconnected from the plot (a James Bond film with that cheap drama would be hilarious!); it has few and poorly done "action scenes" they appear just in the end and they are so bad that I even doubt if I can call them "action scenes"; and even the acting, which would be very important to compensate the few resources, is bad!
I only appreciated the acting by Nicolau Breyner. He does a very short character but he's the only one to do it well! I won't question his qualities as a direction because it's his first job in the position and the resources were short, but so far I still prefer him as an actor... Pedro Lima seemed to have the look of a hit-man at first sight, but after watch the movie I don't think so! He does some important scenes terribly! Claudia Vieira has the most terrible mission: to catch the viewer's attention through her nudity, but doing a dull and empty character! I explain. Unlike Soraia Chaves' nudity in the film CALL GIRL or even O CRIME DO PADRE AMARO, the nude scenes of Claudia Vieira have no point to the film! They have the only purpose to call the viewer's attention! That's too obvious! In the mentioned movies, Soraia's nudity was completely justified by her characters and made sense. In CONTRATO Claudia's nudity doesn't. I'm not complaining, even because I'll say something about this movie that I NEVER thought I would, but it's a fact: The only good thing in this movie is Claudia Vieira's nudity!!!! I just think it's a terrible mission, and a very ungrateful job to her. I'm telling you that because I don't dislike her as an actress. In fact, I think she's a good actress and certainly she would deserve a better role!
In the end there's a twist that could have been good, and could have worked if it wasn't so terribly acted!
It's a shame but I can't score it more than 2/10 (extra point for Claudia Vieira's nudity included)! And it's a shame because I was expecting something better, at least in the same line of quality of other recent Portuguese movies like CALL GIRL or ARTE DE ROUBAR! These ones I appreciated!
I only appreciated the acting by Nicolau Breyner. He does a very short character but he's the only one to do it well! I won't question his qualities as a direction because it's his first job in the position and the resources were short, but so far I still prefer him as an actor... Pedro Lima seemed to have the look of a hit-man at first sight, but after watch the movie I don't think so! He does some important scenes terribly! Claudia Vieira has the most terrible mission: to catch the viewer's attention through her nudity, but doing a dull and empty character! I explain. Unlike Soraia Chaves' nudity in the film CALL GIRL or even O CRIME DO PADRE AMARO, the nude scenes of Claudia Vieira have no point to the film! They have the only purpose to call the viewer's attention! That's too obvious! In the mentioned movies, Soraia's nudity was completely justified by her characters and made sense. In CONTRATO Claudia's nudity doesn't. I'm not complaining, even because I'll say something about this movie that I NEVER thought I would, but it's a fact: The only good thing in this movie is Claudia Vieira's nudity!!!! I just think it's a terrible mission, and a very ungrateful job to her. I'm telling you that because I don't dislike her as an actress. In fact, I think she's a good actress and certainly she would deserve a better role!
In the end there's a twist that could have been good, and could have worked if it wasn't so terribly acted!
It's a shame but I can't score it more than 2/10 (extra point for Claudia Vieira's nudity included)! And it's a shame because I was expecting something better, at least in the same line of quality of other recent Portuguese movies like CALL GIRL or ARTE DE ROUBAR! These ones I appreciated!
Ethic and Aestethics
RResende14 May 2009
It's hard to feel more sad with a film than what i am with this. I wanted so much that this was at least watchable, but i really wish that it could grasp the dimension of the literature that supports it. This is a terribly blind film, which i won't forget, for the worst reasons.
Dinis Machado was a remarkable man. A man who lived and, incidentally, wrote. He was intelligent and his writings, besides Molero, always fill the gaps they are supposed to fill. He knew that detective stories, and noir films, are about how you build the story, not about the story itself. We shouldn't care (and we don't) about characters in a noir film besides the role they play in the narrative. They are abstract beings, there to serve a purpose, outside of their existence as characters. How happy i am when i read Machado, how well and ironically he knew that it was indifferent that he signed McShade or Donald the Duck. How well he distinguished between the bones and the flesh.
Now, if any other guy was involved in this dreadful project, i wouldn't mind too much. I am used to the common inability to transport the deepness of certain writers to the medium of cinema, in fact that's quite a remarkable achievement when it is well done. But it embarrasses me as a viewer to see the remarkable Nicolau Breyner fail totally in this task. He is a man who understands acting in cinema as only a very restrict group of people in Portugal does. He clearly doesn't understand direction, he clearly doesn't control the big arch of the narrative dynamic, and the proof is that the very few watchable moments in this mess are centered around tiny pieces of good performances (topped by his own). He builds a place for his own character to show as the neglected mind, a man who had to live on aesthetics to secretly enjoy his own ethics. How close that is to the life of many Portuguese good actors. Not everything is a waste though, and i'm glad that Cláudia Vieira turned out to be nice, without being an actress. She might do well in a good project.
The film is based in a story based in Don Quijote. This book is a monument, Dinis Machado understood it, as well as many generations of writers who rooted their writing on what Cervantes materialized. Borges certainly did and so did Cortázar - despite Machado is more connected to the first, and find him much more close to the second. Anyway, Borges's ideas of writing about writing (lead to infinite proportions), stories about storytelling are the waters where Machado successfully made his dives. That's where the memories of this hit-man would fit, that's the symbolic importance of the antique in this film. It's not only about a story, it's about the stories it is about. Think about it. It's not only the aesthetics of the story that is at question. Fundamentally, this has to do with the ethics and meanings of storytelling. Georgios Thanatos talks about it, it's one of the only pieces of dialogue which actually contemplates anything that matters in this stew of war sick reminiscences, skin waste and useless killings. How could Nicolau Breyner miss it?
Any Portuguese average spectator will dismiss this commentary as useless, pseudo intellectual and will stand for that position based on the fact that i am evaluating a piece of entertainment as if it was a "serious" piece of film-making. Well, as an advance, before you vote "no" in IMDb, i have to say that i believe there's no entertainment without hidden serious thinking behind it. Now vote No.
Incidentally, last Octobre i was outside the country and didn't realize that Dinis Machado passed away in that month. I only found out reading about this film. Double sadness. He was around, now he's not. This is a sad day in my film watching life.
My opinion: 1/5
http://www.7olhares.wordpress.com
Dinis Machado was a remarkable man. A man who lived and, incidentally, wrote. He was intelligent and his writings, besides Molero, always fill the gaps they are supposed to fill. He knew that detective stories, and noir films, are about how you build the story, not about the story itself. We shouldn't care (and we don't) about characters in a noir film besides the role they play in the narrative. They are abstract beings, there to serve a purpose, outside of their existence as characters. How happy i am when i read Machado, how well and ironically he knew that it was indifferent that he signed McShade or Donald the Duck. How well he distinguished between the bones and the flesh.
Now, if any other guy was involved in this dreadful project, i wouldn't mind too much. I am used to the common inability to transport the deepness of certain writers to the medium of cinema, in fact that's quite a remarkable achievement when it is well done. But it embarrasses me as a viewer to see the remarkable Nicolau Breyner fail totally in this task. He is a man who understands acting in cinema as only a very restrict group of people in Portugal does. He clearly doesn't understand direction, he clearly doesn't control the big arch of the narrative dynamic, and the proof is that the very few watchable moments in this mess are centered around tiny pieces of good performances (topped by his own). He builds a place for his own character to show as the neglected mind, a man who had to live on aesthetics to secretly enjoy his own ethics. How close that is to the life of many Portuguese good actors. Not everything is a waste though, and i'm glad that Cláudia Vieira turned out to be nice, without being an actress. She might do well in a good project.
The film is based in a story based in Don Quijote. This book is a monument, Dinis Machado understood it, as well as many generations of writers who rooted their writing on what Cervantes materialized. Borges certainly did and so did Cortázar - despite Machado is more connected to the first, and find him much more close to the second. Anyway, Borges's ideas of writing about writing (lead to infinite proportions), stories about storytelling are the waters where Machado successfully made his dives. That's where the memories of this hit-man would fit, that's the symbolic importance of the antique in this film. It's not only about a story, it's about the stories it is about. Think about it. It's not only the aesthetics of the story that is at question. Fundamentally, this has to do with the ethics and meanings of storytelling. Georgios Thanatos talks about it, it's one of the only pieces of dialogue which actually contemplates anything that matters in this stew of war sick reminiscences, skin waste and useless killings. How could Nicolau Breyner miss it?
Any Portuguese average spectator will dismiss this commentary as useless, pseudo intellectual and will stand for that position based on the fact that i am evaluating a piece of entertainment as if it was a "serious" piece of film-making. Well, as an advance, before you vote "no" in IMDb, i have to say that i believe there's no entertainment without hidden serious thinking behind it. Now vote No.
Incidentally, last Octobre i was outside the country and didn't realize that Dinis Machado passed away in that month. I only found out reading about this film. Double sadness. He was around, now he's not. This is a sad day in my film watching life.
My opinion: 1/5
http://www.7olhares.wordpress.com
Really really bad
anasofia_gfr4 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
It's sad that an action movie which is supposed to leave you at the edge of your seat turns into a comedy. I was with a group of friends watching this movie on the TV and we spent the whole time saying "what a terrible lousy movie". It has scenes that make absolutely no sense and seem to have been copied from other action movies. At the end of the movie we were all confused about the plot and why were those scenes even there. Then the part where the Portuguese actors try to speak English is so lame, saying "fek" and "fok" which made us laugh hysterically... The love scenes between Julia and Peter were so forced and fake... The acting was so so bad.... Then the unnecessary nudity it's just something they filmed to put on the trailer so that it would catch the attention of possible viewers... The only reason I can find for the lousiness of this movie is that they didn't watch it before they released it for the premiere, because there is no one with a normal working brain that could watch that movie and not say "what a piece of crap!". If you want to see a good Portuguese movie in the same genre try Call Girl.
piece of crap
kDvill3 April 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Don't watch!! I spent the first 20 minutes laughing, then it started to be painful to watch. Apart from the absence of argument, what nonsense is this to put the characters speaking Sócrates English, war in Afghanistan or Iraq !?!? (Alentejo), work for the FêBêI, what the hell!
I would love to say something positive about the movie, unfortunately I cant, actors like Vitor Norte, José Wallenstein and Nicolau Breyner do their roles well, but what role?! All the characters are two-dimensional the only one I liked was that of Peter Granger, who fortunately died in the first minutes of the film, if had died earlier had been better. Do our film professionals do not have access to American movies, which they love to copy, and realize they have in hand a beautiful mess?
Noticed that Claudia Vieira only appears to show her boobs.
Watch "Inferno" from Joaquim Leitão instead, is a parade of clichés but with good actors and at least the characters are veterans of Ultramar and do not work for fêbêi.
Do Portuguese films about Portugal with Portuguese. We have the culture for it, stop imitating the "amaricanos", damn it!
I would love to say something positive about the movie, unfortunately I cant, actors like Vitor Norte, José Wallenstein and Nicolau Breyner do their roles well, but what role?! All the characters are two-dimensional the only one I liked was that of Peter Granger, who fortunately died in the first minutes of the film, if had died earlier had been better. Do our film professionals do not have access to American movies, which they love to copy, and realize they have in hand a beautiful mess?
Noticed that Claudia Vieira only appears to show her boobs.
Watch "Inferno" from Joaquim Leitão instead, is a parade of clichés but with good actors and at least the characters are veterans of Ultramar and do not work for fêbêi.
Do Portuguese films about Portugal with Portuguese. We have the culture for it, stop imitating the "amaricanos", damn it!
I want my wasted life minutes back.
ricardo-abreu-128 June 2009
Worst movie I saw in months.
Theatrical settings, extremely painful bad acting, ripping-of of American movie clichés, terrible soundtrack and a script that seemed to be written by a 15 year old.
The movie itself is a waste of time. Sound effects seem edited from other movies. I have no idea what the budget was for this flick, but whatever it was I assure you: it looks a very very low budget. Acting seems like amateur local groups. Even the camera work is bad.
A tip for Portuguese directors: Showing breasts IS NOT the way to sell a movie!
Theatrical settings, extremely painful bad acting, ripping-of of American movie clichés, terrible soundtrack and a script that seemed to be written by a 15 year old.
The movie itself is a waste of time. Sound effects seem edited from other movies. I have no idea what the budget was for this flick, but whatever it was I assure you: it looks a very very low budget. Acting seems like amateur local groups. Even the camera work is bad.
A tip for Portuguese directors: Showing breasts IS NOT the way to sell a movie!
Some potential, many flaws
imdbbl20 April 2009
Contrato has a lot of potential, unfortunately the film is a victim of his own amateurism.As far as Portuguese cinema goes this is definitely a step forward but we can't seem to be able to shake some clichés. Pedro lima plays Peter Mcshade, a hit-man with a very strong sense of ethics that finds himself involved in a conspiracy. The plot is actually quite interesting and you get drawn into it as the story builds up and there's also a nice little plot twist.So, where does the movie fail? Well, for starters, sometimes it doesn't come trough as very believable, specially when the characters speak English...its a poor attempt to make the film a bit more mainstream. Plus, in order to give some swagger to the characters the writers decided to put the actors swearing every two lines...and this does nothing for the movie but to emphasize the amateurism. All in all this is a weak movie but two thumbs up for the effort and good performance by Pedro Lima.
6/10
6/10
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