Peter Mandrake, a North-American photojournalist becomes embroiled in South America's dangerous underworld of pimps, drug gangs and arms smugglers when he sets out to find the killer of a local call girl.
Cinematography
Sweaty, neon-drenched Brazilian locations that breathe danger
Acting
Tchéky Karyo's knife master steals every scene he's in
Director
Walter Salles
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Walter Salles' second feature, made five years before his international breakthrough with 'Central Station.' He reportedly disowned it later.
The title's bitter irony: Peter seeks 'high art' in suffering while exploiting everyone around him—a critique of photojournalism's colonial impulses that the film itself barely transcends.
BR
