Anjos da Noite

Literally in English, "Angels of the Night", this was an unforgettable experience when I saw it in 1987 during the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival. It is a dramatic comedy, in which a young woman who studies sociology is given access to the video archive of a rich widow and malandra ex model Malú Maneca (Zezé Motta), containing information about characters of the nights of São Paulo: gigolos, prostitutes, transvestites, pimps, a theater director, a film star of the past reduced to doing TV commercial spots, a homosexual publicist. It is considered one of the best examples of the so-called "cinema novo paulista" (new cinema of São Paulo), with a touch of "neon realism" that makes it very special, plus a beautiful musical number danced by the great Marília Pêra, and Guilherme Leme. It was the only motion picture directed by Barros, who died in the early 1990s.