The lives of a macho butcher, his wife, a lonely waitress, a sadist and a flophouse manager intersect in Recife, Brazil.
Acting
Matheus Nachtergaele's feral, tragic Dunga.
Cinematography
Recife's neon-soaked, suffocating humidity visualized.
Direction
Assis finds grotesque beauty in squalor.

Director
Cláudio Assis
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of the 'Retomada' — Brazil's late-90s film renaissance that finally looked at working-class life without poverty porn sentimentality.
The title references a cheap local dessert, underscoring how even small pleasures become tainted by the characters' circumstances.