The documentary “Rita Lee: Mania de you ”He arrived at streaming on Thursday (8). The date marks two years since the death of the Brazilian rock queen.
The production, from the Max platform, is directed by Guido Goldberg and has the support of the singer family, with the participation of children Beto , Antonio and John besides the widower Roberto de Carvalho .
About 1h20 long, the documentary opens with some of the lastLtims audios recorded by Rita, who begins with her talking about death – “Death is not punishment, death is to return to the house, where you were before you are born.”
The intimate content brings proximity to the singer, showing not only her impressions of things in life, but when using personal materials such as documents, photos and family videos.
Rita Lee’s life begins to be painted with excerpts of interviews, such as a feat for Jô Soares, as well as showing moments of concerts or when she sang while Roberto, her partner in every spheres of life, played.
In addition to the presence of children, husband and sister Virginia, “Rita Lee: Mania de Você” also brings participation from close friends of the singer, as Gilberto Gil and Ney Matogrosso in addition to testimonials from the former player Walter Casagrande (Rita was Corinthian), former members of Tutti Frutti and other people who were close to Rita during her life, as Guilherme Samora with whom the singer wrote her autobiography.
Production establishes the narrative timeline according to the singer’s solo records. Starting with 1973, the documentary intertwines the release dates of the albums with the moments of Rita’s life.
The choice, according to director Guido Goldberg, was motivated by the intention of the production not to follow a chronological order. “[A ideia era fazer] in a more human way, to understand the person behind the album, ”he said in an interview with CNN .
“So whenever we are talking about some album in the movie, it is because if there is a reason to explain what was happening in Rita’s life right now, ”explained the director.“ We left some genius albums out of the movie, but I didn’t want to have a musical perk for Rita’s life, but on the contrary, I wanted you to know Rita’s human side, fragility, strength, mixed with music and what happened. ”
Second João Lee son of Rita Lee and Roberto de Carvalho the documentary process was totally organic. “The family together with the production team, start mixing a little of the kind of material we had,” he told CNN .
The production was being run while Rita Lee was still alive. John, who also led the process of parents’ music albums from his parents, returned to live with them after Rita received the diagnosis of cancer.
“It was something that was happening, materializing on top of these files and the things that were happening the moment it was recorded,” he explained.
Roberto de Carvalho points out that, despite covering much of the singer’s life, much was not shown in the documentary. “The documentary is an hour and a half, two hours – the whole universe around us has decades, half a century,” he explained, also in an interview with CNN . “So there’s a lot.”
“A lot that has been stored here at our home, it’s a collection of things that were collected during life,” he continued. “A world of things that will still see the light of day.”
João Lee explains that the biggest difficulty in doing the documentary is to choose what will not enter. “We went through this in the exhibition, too. Just as the documentary has a time limitation, the exhibition has a space limitation,” he explained. “So we had to leave a lot out, which didn’t come in – which doesn’t mean these things don’t appear over time.”
“To direct the documentary is to live with the waste all the time,” joked director Guido Goldberg, talking about the cuts that are made in different versions of production.
Intimate moments of Rita Lee with the family
“Rita Lee: Mania de you”, despite presenting the narrative structure based on the singer’s musical releases, also gives depth to personal life. In addition to the collection photos and family videos, the testimonials of the children and letters shown take the viewer close to that family.
The documentary shows scenes in which Roberto de Carvalho plays guitar during sync recording with videos by Rita Lee singing music in interviews or live guests on television programs in a touching way.
By using some of Rita Lee’s songs, the documentary enhances the transgressive identity that marked the songs, as well as entering the creative process of the singer and giving her personal opinion about some tracks, such as “Things of Life” and “Health”.
By deepening the singer’s musical career, the production also gives details about the person Rita beyond the artist, reporting, for example, the first and only episode of the artist, who was using cocaine, or the prison of the singer, who occurred after she gave testimony in the case of a fan who had been killed inside a show by the police during the military dictatorship.
Revive the striking moments of Rita Lee’s life thrills family members at various times, looking at personal effects and words left by her. Roberto de Carvalho reads a letter Rita sent to him during the arrest and is thrilled to the point of not being able to complete the reading.
“The strategy was to follow the rhythm of events, basically the strategy was this – and the events were very intense, very important, sometimes very hard, but everything is there, ”explained Roberto de Carvalho to CNN . “Since everything in Rita’s life was all exposed. I think Rita wouldn’t like me to put it that way, but: [foi tudo colocado de forma] naked and raw. ‘This is what is happening, this is what will be shown.’
Another letter that marks the most exciting moment of the documentary is a farewell that Rita Lee left to her children.
Two weeks before Rita Lee’s death, the moment her children read for the first time a letter left by the singer, with dedications for each of the three. João Lee released to CNN who had read the letter before, but it was the first time Beto and Antonio first read the message left by their mother. “So what you see there was totally natural and organic,” he said. “I think this side Even a little improvised to record gives this natural and exciting tone that I think people will be thrilled together. ”
The documentary ends the same way as it begins: with Rita’s voice giving the singer’s impressions of death, showing images of Rita’s wake on Ibirapuera’s planetarium – which was the last tribute to her, who always wanted to be abducted by a flying saucer.
“Rita Lee: Mania de you” is now available on Max.
Watch the trailer for “Rita Lee: Mania de you”:
Rita Lee: The Farewell of the Brazilian Queen of Rock
Rita Lee left unpublished music to Maria Bethânia before she died
This content was originally published in “Rita Lee: Mania de you” gives an intimate look of life and farewell to the singer on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
