5 reviews
I'm Portuguese and am not a Huge doce fan, however I DID find the movie interesting.
Portuguese movies are usually slow, badly lit and have horrible sound. I will however give credit to a few recent ones that were rather good in at least 2 of the the 3 above. (São Jorge 2016 for example, by Marco Martins).
This film in question guides us through the biography of probably the most famous (and first) Portuguese Girl Pop band. The plot revolves around the story of the largely popular quartet DOCE (or "sweet" in English) who started playing together in the early 80's. Formed by Fatima Padinha, Teresa Miguel, Lena Coelho and Fernanda de Sousa, we understand the struggles of an all-girl singer group who thrive during a recently overthrown dictatorship that still leaves behind a largely misogynistic-minded country.
Despite the (usually) low budget, photography was beautiful and the script was fantastic. The four actresses (Carolina Carvalho, Bárbara Franco, Lia Carvalho and Ana Maria Ferreira) played each of their parts wonderfully who, as an added bonus, resemble the original singers. This also obliges me to give great credit to costume and make-up design teams who were on point conveying the extravagant outfits of the decade.
Overall a refreshingly solid movie despite the typical funding limitations and huge congratulations to the Director Patricia Sequeira for her work.
Portuguese movies are usually slow, badly lit and have horrible sound. I will however give credit to a few recent ones that were rather good in at least 2 of the the 3 above. (São Jorge 2016 for example, by Marco Martins).
This film in question guides us through the biography of probably the most famous (and first) Portuguese Girl Pop band. The plot revolves around the story of the largely popular quartet DOCE (or "sweet" in English) who started playing together in the early 80's. Formed by Fatima Padinha, Teresa Miguel, Lena Coelho and Fernanda de Sousa, we understand the struggles of an all-girl singer group who thrive during a recently overthrown dictatorship that still leaves behind a largely misogynistic-minded country.
Despite the (usually) low budget, photography was beautiful and the script was fantastic. The four actresses (Carolina Carvalho, Bárbara Franco, Lia Carvalho and Ana Maria Ferreira) played each of their parts wonderfully who, as an added bonus, resemble the original singers. This also obliges me to give great credit to costume and make-up design teams who were on point conveying the extravagant outfits of the decade.
Overall a refreshingly solid movie despite the typical funding limitations and huge congratulations to the Director Patricia Sequeira for her work.
- nico_mello
- Jul 31, 2021
- Permalink
I'm Portuguese and I usually don't like Portuguese movies, although there are amazing ones. I'm a young adult now and this film is about a band formed in the late 70's early 80's and it's so good!! It's a good movie to laugh, cry and overall enjoy! Is it the best movie I've ever watched? No. But is it good? Yes! The acting is top notch!
The songs bring you to that golden Portuguese music era of the 80s, with atypically cheerful songs - for the country -, of which Doce were the epitaph, the cinematography is epic and holds true to optimistic collective spirit of post dictatorship Portugal and adherence to the nowadays EU. Brave.
If you love pop music and are a DOCE fan you will love this movie. If like me you don't, you won't. The singer group DOCE (sweet) was a singer band formed by four lovely ladies that were famous and successful in the seventies of last century in Portugal and this movie is biographic and tells the creation and setting of the band and all the problems found because of it. The four actresses that perform the DOCE ladies band do an excellent job. But all this is rather uninteresting.
In our youth, we grew up, wishing that those four girls were our neighbours, our girls... It was nice going back on time to remember what they did, and quite an example for the girls and women from that time. Finnaly, the women are equal to men, thanks to DOCE.
DOCE are real sweet and the four greatest actress that portrait the members of the band are amazing, and almost look a like them!
Congratulations to all, and particully, to Patricia Sequeira for doing this project.
DOCE are real sweet and the four greatest actress that portrait the members of the band are amazing, and almost look a like them!
Congratulations to all, and particully, to Patricia Sequeira for doing this project.