Rita Lee: Mania de Você

Guido Goldberg's 2025 Brazilian documentary tells the life of the musician Rita Lee in her own voice. The farewell letter she wrote shortly before her death to her three children and to her husband and musical partner Roberto de Carvalho forms the film's frame. From there it reaches back to summarise a life running from the Os Mutantes years to her solo career. The strongest material is the archive: her arrest under the Brazilian military dictatorship, her conflicts with the censors, and the resistance she met as a woman in rock are shown through footage of the time. The film's limit is that it was made with her family's participation and therefore keeps no critical distance; the difficult periods are softened. The intensity of the farewell tone may be too much for some viewers. Who it's for: viewers interested in Brazilian popular music and the history of rock after Tropicália. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a critical portrait, or unprepared for the weight of death and farewell.