O Primeiro Dia (1998)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Directors:

Walter Salles
Daniela Thomas

Writers:

João Emanuel Carneiro (writer)
Walter Salles (writer)

Release Date:

18 February 1999 (Hungary)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

If there is one day to decide something in life, this day is today.

Plot:

On December 31st of 1999, the destiny brings a fugitive prisoner and a depressed middle class teacher together, as the new millennium approaches bringing hope to everyone.

Plot Keywords:

Fireworks | New Year's Eve | Rio De Janeiro Brazil | Suicide Attempt | Prison

Awards:

6 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Fernanda Torres	...	Maria
Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos	...	João
Matheus Nachtergaele	...	Francisco
Nelson Sargento	...	Vovô
Tonico Pereira	...	Carcereiro
Aulio Ribeiro	...	José
Luciana Bezerra	...	Rosa
Antonio Gomes	...	Antonio
Nelson Dantas	...	Farmacêutico
Carlos Vereza	...	Pedro
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
José Dumont

Also Known As:

Le premier jour (France)
Meia Noite (Brazil) (alternative title)
Midnight (Canada: English title)
Minuit (France) (TV title)

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

France | Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Singapore:M18 (cut) | France:U | Norway:15

Company:

Haut et Court

A powerful and dramatic motion picture for the end of the millennium.

O Primeiro Dia (The First Day) is the long version, edited for cinema, of the short film Meia Noite (Midnight), produced by Daniela Thomas and Walter Salles for the series "2000 seem by", created by the French cultural broadcast television Art and the producer Haut et Court , in order to collect different views, from 10 distinct countries, concerning the end of the millennium.

With a powerful and dramatic story, full of great performances, extraordinary cinematographic takes and metaphors, O Primeiro Dia represents the obscure but hopeful view of two young, but experienced, Brazilian film makers: Daniela Thomas and Walter Salles. In their new motion picture the destiny brings two different people, from two distinct "worlds", together, as the fireworks fall over Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach and the new millennium approachs bringing hope to everyone. The first day of the new millennium is presented as a hope for a new life, for a new world, in which there won't be no more violence, poverty or even sadness. But this hope can die as soon as it is born, revealing a first day as obscure and sad as the last day , proving that all the years are and will ever be the same, unless we change. Here, in Brazil, we have a saying "don't leave for tomorrow what you can do today". This is the great message of the film. As one of the characters says in the movie "If there is one day to decide something in life, this day is today".