Maldito - O Estranho Mundo de José Mojica Marins

Coffin Joe: The Strange World of Jose Mojica Marins (2001)

*** (out of 4)

Pretty good, if too short, look at the life and career of Brazilian filmmaker Jose Mojica Marins who is best known for his Coffin Joe character. This documentary shows us some of the places Marins shot his films as well as interviews the director about his battle with censors in Brazil and how he was unable to become a rich man. The film briefly goes into discussion on his porn films from the 80s and we also get to learn a little about his regained fame in America and Europe. Since this documentary was shot somewhere between 1999 and 2000 there's no mention of the latest Coffin Joe film that was released in 2008 so obviously this thing could be updated but overall this is a pretty good look at the director's career. We get to hear from the man himself but I had a hard time knowing whether he really is as crazy as everyone says or if he was just saying things to make himself live up to his reputation. There's a rather bizarre sequence where he talks about all the people who have died while working for him and we even get some stuff about one of his porn films that became very famous because of a dog having sex with a human actress. We also get to hear him explain why he never got rich and why he's still looked at as a clown in Brazil. For the most part the documentary gives us a pretty good idea of the director and how he made his films with the majority of the running time taking a look at the Coffin Joe series. We also get to learn about AWAKENING OF THE BEAST and why it was banned in Brazil for nearly two decades. We also get to see the original letter from the censors and hear about everything they wanted cut out. The film runs just around 65-minutes so there's not enough detail to make this fully rewarding but so far it's the best thing we've got.