Best movies like Malandro

The year was 1941, and the world was on the brink of war. In an effort to improve relations between the Americas, the Roosevelt administration called upon one of Hollywood’s most influential filmmakers to embark on a special goodwill tour. Written and directed by Theodore Thomas (“Frank and Ollie”) and produced by Kuniko Okubo, the documentary WALT & EL GRUPO chronicles the amazing ten-week trip that Walt Disney and his hand-picked group of artists and filmmaking talent (later known as “El Grupo”) took to South America at the behest of the U.S. Government as part of the Good Neighbor Policy.

Situated just above the awe-inspiring Ipanema beach in Rio is the Cantagalo slum. Every day, floods of Cantagalo residents make their way down the mountain, only to disappear into their surroundings as part of the invisible working-class that cleans apartments, works in restaurants, and sells food along the scenic, sun-drenched shores. Young Dé (Thiago Martins) is just such a man. Dé lives with his mother Bernadette (Cyria Coentro) in a cramped Cantagalo apartment, selling hot dogs on the beach in order to make the rent. His brother Beto was killed when Dé was just a young boy, and his adopted brother Carlão (Rocco Pitanga) has been jailed for a robbery that he didn't commit. One day, while working on the beach, Dé meets Nina (Vitória Frate). Nina is the only child of a successful lawyer named Evandro (Paulo César Grande), who's none to happy to discover that his daughter is dating a member of the lower class. How...

On a scorching summer day in Rio de Janeiro, five impoverished black boys venture out of their favela to peddle peanuts throughout the bustling city. As they navigate the various districts of Rio, they bear witness to a series of unfortunate events and encounters, unfolding a vivid tapestry of urban life in Rio de Janeiro during that period. These true misadventures shed light on the gritty reality of the city, unveiling its vibrant urban tapestry.

“Rio 2096 – A Story of Love and Fury” is an animated film that portrays the love between an immortal hero and Janaína, the woman he has been in love with for 600 years. As a backdrop to the romance, the feature highlights four phases of Brazilian history: colonization, slavery, the Military Regime and the future, in 2096, when there will be a war for water.

Brazil is perhaps the best of the handful of US films made by Brazilian singing sensation Tito Guizar. In typical screwball-comedy fashion, the plot is set in motion by authoress Nicky Henderson, who has hit the best-seller charts with her latest tome, Why Marry a Latin? While researching her next book in Rio De Janeiro, she finds out "why" when she meets handsome songwriter Miguel Soares. Upon learning about Nicky's book, Miguel decides to teach her a few lessons in the affairs of the heart. Edward Everett Horton is also on hand, twittering his way through the role of a well-meaning buttinsky. Thanks to the "Good Neighbor" policy of the 1940s, South American musicals were a glut on the market, but Brazil was good enough on its own merits to pay its way at the box office.

The youngest daughter of a rich man has been raped by five black men in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, and her father arranges her marriage to one of his employees in order to save the family’s honor.

Lisbela is a young woman who loves going to the movies. Leléu is a con man, going from town to town selling all sort of things and performing as master of ceremonies for some cheesy numbers, such as the woman who gets transformed into a gorilla. He gets involved with Linaura, a sexy and beautiful woman who happens to be the wife of the most frightening hitman of the place. The hitman finds out his wife's affair and goes after Leléu, who has to leave in a hurry. In another town, he meets and falls instantly in love with Lisbela, who is engaged to Douglas, a hillbilly who tries hard to pass for a cosmopolitan Rio de Janeiro dweller.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1950. In the conservative home of the Gusmão family, Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters who support each other. While Guida can share with her younger sister the details of her romantic adventures, Eurídice finds in her older sister the encouragement she needs to pursue her dream of becoming a professional pianist.

A group of eccentric people gather at a popular bar in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro. Among its costumers, we find Ana, an actress, and her husband Zeca, a writer in crisis about his work.

Paulo works as a high school literature teacher, his wife Teresa is a local shopkeeper, and their daughter Bel is still in school. They live in a rented flat in Saens Peña Square, in the heart of Tijuca, a neighborhood in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. An unexpected and alluring job offer may have a profound effect on the routine of this family and even jeopardize a 20-year marriage.

In Rio de Janiero to arrest a nightclub singer on suspicion of a murder in Hawaii, Charlie Chan becomes involved with the Rio police in solving the singer's own murder.

In the bohemian 1960s Rio de Janeiro, the 16 year-old rebel and reckless teenager Marcelo, a terrible student that plays hooky from school, dreams on leaving his home and move to São Paulo to work hard, make money and travel abroad to visit the world.

The stuffy manager of lovely opera singer Vicki Cassel and her uncle, a classical conductor, is determined to close down the noisy nightclub next door to the Cassels' home. The club's owners--Steve, a handsome ladies' man, and Jeff, his clownish sidekick--hatch a plan to keep the club open. Steve arranges to meet--and woo--Vicki and then invite her and her uncle to the club. When Vicki's snobbish aunt and the manager discover that Vicki now favors popular music over the classics, they arrange to get the club closed. But that doesn't keep Steve and Jeff down. Instead, they decide to put on a Broadway show if they can get a backer. They find their "angel" in Vicki's uncle who agrees to finance the show only if Vicki is the leading lady. But again, Vicki's aunt and manager may be the spoiler in everyone's plans.

Portrait of troubled middle-class young men living in Rio de Janeiro. With no attention from their parents, they turn to urban violence, as a compensation. A group of friends decide to kidnap a rich youngster to get some money to spend during the Carnival.

Five undercover cops at Complexo do Alemão, one of Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous areas, have their covers blown by drug dealers. Arrested, they wait execution or to be rescued by police forces that would risk expose a larger operation.

Biopic of Brazilian singer Tim Maia, from his childhood in Rio de Janeiro until his death at age 55, including his passage by the US, where he discovers a new style of music and is arrested for theft and drug possession.

The meeting between two young guys, Marcelo —in the future, Marcelo D2— and Skunk , who sold t-shirts and cassette tapes in the center of Rio de Janeiro to survive, resulted in one of the most popular bands in Brazil in the 1990’s, Planet Hemp. Suppressed by a prejudiced society, the two made of their music a cry of alertness and resistance, conquering the hearts and minds of an entire generation.

An heiress searches for true love while vacationing in Brazil.

After taking a very nasty fall on Christmas Eve, grinchy Jorge blacks out and wakes up one year later, with no memory of the year that has passed. He soon realizes that he’s doomed to keep waking up on Christmas Eve after Christmas Eve, having to deal with the aftermath of what his other self has done the other 364 days of the year.

A family leaves a small town in the state of São Paulo to move to Rio de Janeiro when the father gets a job promotion there. In Rio, everyone of them will fall prey to the city's sinful ways.

The fictional encounter in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (in the 30s) between popular songwriter Lamartine Babo and inconoclast poet and playwright Oswald de Andrade.

On December 19th, 1983, the dream was taken away. The most coveted trophy of all time, the Jules Rimet Cup disappeared from the headquarters of CBF, the Brazilian Football Association. Let me explain: every 4 years FIFA holds a Football World Cup. Back then, only a country that won the Cup three times could keep the trophy for good. This privilege was reserved to Brazil when they won for the 3rd time in 1970. The beautiful trophy was kept as a symbol of superiority in the headquarters of CBF, in Rio de Janeiro. “Jules and Dolores” is a pop comedy that tell us the real, preposterous and unusual story behind this theft.

From Friday night 'til Sunday morning, the doors of a new world open inside a nightclub in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro. We watch the emotions and conflicts experienced by a series of characters, who find on the dance floor the ideal stage to represent the tragedy of their lives.

Countryman Onofre is convinced by his cousin to live in Rio de Janeiro together with him so he can enjoy the delights of summer in Rio.

Womanizer suddenly finds a woman who makes him change the way he looks at women. He falls in love, and believes she is in fact all women in one. Because of that, he has to face an important decision: to go on with his old life or embrace this special relationship and become a monogamous man.

Guilherme lives in a rich neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro and his girlfriend is the daughter of a respected lawyer. Behind his upper-class habits, he cooperates with corrupt policemen providing information to them. Things change when he finds out that a close friend has problems with a dangerous gangster.

Three young Brazilian try to help a terminally ill woman who lives in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Their youthful idealism is shattered with the cruel reality of police brutality.

Quartet from Northeast Brazil arrive in Rio de Janeiro, to try their luck in the big city.

Somebody is selling songs for two recording companies, simultaneously. The owner of one of them hires a detective to find out the swindler's identity. But the private-eye is clumsy, and messes things up even more.

Rio de Janeiro. Confronted with the violence that exists in the favela where he lives, Tiago sees the only way out to become a soccer player and, in this way, help his family to have a better life. Although he is the best player in his neighborhood and the chances of being discovered by a scout are good, he faces a number of problems. One of them is Tubarão, the leader of the most powerful gang in the favela, who wants Tiago to work for him as a drug dealer. To complicate matters even more, Tiago falls in love with Juliana, Tubarão's sister.

A couple, Lauro and Renata, travels to a remote area surrounded by rain forest in Rio De Janeiro. Once they are there, Lauro is told by a bar owner that gruesome murders are taking place in that area. Intending to keep this information hidden from his girlfriend, Lauro and Renata discover they might be not alone when staying in a isolated house.

Riding High is a psychological thriller about a crime that has become common in today’s Rio de Janeiro. The film takes us into the most dramatic day in the life of Julia, a housewife who is kidnapped in her armored car by Case and Sapeca, two young men from Rio’s slums. What seems at first sight to be a conflict between rich and poor turns into a much more complex plot linking the characters’ past and present.

Marquinhos (Lúcio Andrey) lives in the Rocinha favela, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. He gets involved with Débora (Priscila Assum), a young woman from the upper middle class with whom she starts to face adult life and several difficulties that try to separate them.