Episode 477: Macunaíma (1969)

Cinema Novo month continues with a look at Joaquim Pedro de Andrade’s Macumaia. Based on the 1928 Modernist novel of the same name by Mário de Andrade (no relation). Some see the Cinema Novo movement ending around 1967 while others say that it simply entered another phase. Regardless, Macunaima is unlike any other movie we’ve discussed this month so far and it might be in the running as a favorite film overall. It’s wild, colorful, and filled with enough subtext to choke a horse.

Chris Stachiw and David Kittredge join Mike to discuss this wild tale of jungle and urban life in Brazil in 1969.