In Rio de Janeiro, more specifically in Copacabana, the sixteen year-old rebel and reckless teenager Marcelo (Stepan Nercessian) is a terrible student that plays hooky from school and a liar. He dreams on leaving his home and move to São Paulo to work hard, make money and travel abroad to visit the world. Marcelo worships his cousin, who is rich and lives in São Paulo after visiting many countries. Marcelo's father Anacleto (Francisco Dantas) is a bureaucrat that has been recently promoted and wants that Marcelo works with him in the office; his girlfriend is Renata (Françoise Forton), who studies in the same class; and his best friend is Miguel Luiz (Lula) that Marcelo calls Zé Miguel whose wealthy parents are always absent, travelling in Europe.
When Marcelo schedules to spend the afternoon in Floresta da Tijuca with Zé Miguel, Renata and her friend Carmen (Simone Malaguti), they steal the jeep of Miguel's cousin and Marcelo drives to a remote area. But the jeep has mechanical problems and they have to spend the night in the forest. Meanwhile, their parents call the school and find that they had lied about the exams at school triggering consequences for their acts. Marcelo is spelled from school, Renata breaks with him and he decides to hitchhike to São Paulo with Miguel. But when they are hungry on the road, they reevaluate their plans.
"Marcelo Zona Sul" is a sensitive and nostalgic coming of age story. The awesome debut of Xavier de Oliveira writing and directing this film, and Stepan Nercessian and Françoise Forton in the lead role with a perfect chemistry show the talent of them and is probably the best performance of Stepan Nercessian in his successful career. Once I read in a Blog a great comparison of "Marcelo Zona Sul" and the 1959 "Les Quatre Cents Coups" by François Truffaut and I fully agree with the author.
For those like me that belongs to Marcelo's generation and is born and lives in Rio de Janeiro, it is nostalgic to revisit my wonderful city in 1970, when it was also Estado da Guanabara. Further, it is also inevitable the comparison of behaviors of generations: in the 70's, the teenagers wish to become independent from their parents and live their own lives while the present generations stay at the parents' home for a longer and longer period. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil)"|: "Marcelo Zona Sul" ("Marcelo South Zone")
