Central do Brasil (1998)
English title: Central Station
Directed by Walter Salles (Brazil)
Boy actor: Vinicius de Oliveira
This charming tale about the relationship between a middle-aged woman and a young boy searching for his father earned two Oscar nominations - one for best foreign-language film and one for best actress in a leading role (Fernanda Montenegro as Dora).
At the beginning of the film, Dora writes letters for illiterate people at the central train station. She is a bitter woman who doesn't always mail her client's letters. But when a woman for whom she wrote a letter dies in a car accident and leaves her young son Josué behind, Dora decides to take the kid home.
However, she has no intention of keeping the boy with her for very long, in fact sells him off to a rather questionable group of people who claim they will find him a good home but are probably more interested in selling his kidney on the black market. Feeling guilty, Dora steals the boy back from them and goes on a journey with him to find his father. Along the way, the two eventually get closer and form a relationship.
I highly recommend this one to anyone, whether or not they are interested in seeing boys on screen. I recommend it even more to thos who are interested, though, as the boy is charming and beautiful.
The boy's performance is outstanding and IMDb tells me he's had a small role ("Ferreina family member") in Behind the Sun, by the same director. It looks like a very small role, however, which is too bad.
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