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Part of MKC's coverage of the Jecheon Intl. Music & Film Festival.
Ah nostalgia, what a curious beast it is. This documentary whisked me back to my college days when I was an avid music collector with a rather eclectic set of tastes. One of my favorite discoveries was Brazilian music from the late 1960s and early 70s, particularly the genre known as Tropicalia. All my favorite artists of that period, including Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes and Tom Ze, feature prominently in this new documentary, which explores their revolutionary music and the impact it had on contemporaneous Brazilian society.
Making a music documentary is no simple task. In one sense as a music documentarian you are very fortunate to have an array of stellar songs at your fingertips. However, the danger is that the strength of your soundtrack can overwhelm the film. Tropicalia features a stunning soundtrack and though knowledgeable of this music scene I discovered many new gems as I watched it, this was a plus. Director Marcelo Marchedo does two things with his approach to his documentary. He tries to create a modern, flowing historical document and also attempts to match the liveliness and passion of the Tropicalia scene through the pace of his feature and his panache in the editing suite. His bag of montage tricks seems bottomless.
