Minha Fama de Mau

Lui Farias's 2019 Brazilian film covers the young years of the musician Erasmo Carlos. Growing up in a poor district of Rio, Erasmo is caught by rock music at the end of the fifties, looking for places to play, forming bands and breaking them up. Meeting Roberto Carlos changes his life; their partnership opened a new period in Brazilian popular music and the songs they wrote together entered the country's shared memory. While relating that rise the film also shows the pressure of the industry, the question of race and the strain on the friendship. The musical sections were prepared in fidelity to the recordings of the period. The story follows the shape of biography and runs chronologically, with some passages left superficial. Chay Suede stars. Who it's for: viewers who like music biography and Brazilian popular culture. Who it's not for: anyone expecting a critical portrait; the film looks on with affection.