A Very Brazilian Elvis & Madona Appears on The Festival Circuit
Brad Balfour
Posted: July 2, 2010 10:04 AM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-balfour/a-very-brazilian-elvis-ma_b_633652.htmlAmong the films seen during it (and earlier, at the Tribeca Film Fest) was Elvis and Madona -- an off-beat, low-budget, sort-of romantic comedy timely in a special way. Keeping in mind the recent GayPride celebrations and the-soon-to-be-released The Kids Are All Right, it envisions an alternative family, Brazilian style. Enhanced by a serious social message, with a bit more drama and soap opera (it's a lot less Almodovar and a lot more tele-novella) Elvis and Madona is not like a broad domestic-borne rom-com.
Though promoted as a unique, fun comedy, Elvis & Madona prompted controversial reaction from some members of the gay and lesbian crowd and garnered a few critical razzes as well.
Written and directed by straight filmmaker Marcelo Lafitte, the film lightheartedly posits an enduring romance between a transvestite-maybe-transsexual hairdresser and his young bi-sexual lover who gets knocked up so they live together struggling to produce his drag show. If successful, it will end their financial troubles and make for a functional family.
