Girl from Rio
| Chica de Río | |
|---|---|
 English-language poster of Chica de Río | |
| Directed by | Christopher Monger |
| Produced by |
Muir Sutherland Andrés Vicente Gómez |
| Written by |
Christopher Monger Julian Ibañez Francisco Lara |
| Starring |
Hugh Laurie Vanessa Nunes Santiago Segura Patrick Barlow |
| Cinematography | José Luis Alcaine |
| Edited by | Nicholas Wentworth |
| Distributed by |
United Kingdom: Redbus Film Distribution Spain: Lolafilms |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 102 min. |
| Country |
Brazil United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Girl from Rio (Spanish:Chica de Río) is a 2001 film, written and directed by Christopher Monger, starring Hugh Laurie, Vanessa Nunes, Santiago Segura, Lia Williams, and Patrick Barlow.
Plot
Raymond Woods (Hugh Laurie), a junior manager in a bank in the City is becoming increasingly bored of his life as it takes a downhill tumble. First he finds out that he has missed the promotion opportunity at work by his bad tempered and disapproving boss, Strothers (Patrick Barlow), and then he catches his wife (Lia Williams) a couple of days before Christmas having an affair with Strothers.
Touching down in Rio, he calls a cab to take him to a nice hotel. The cab driver, Paulo (Santiago Segura), takes him to a fairly run down hotel. Raymond insists he needs a much nicer hotel with a beach, while Paulo insists Raymond would not be able to afford such a hotel, but suddenly changes heart once Raymond shows him a large wad of cash. Paulo immediately befriends Raymond, with is eyes greedily on his cash as he owes the biggest Mafia leader in Rio money and insists that he is prepared to take Raymond wherever he needs to go and whatever he needs done can be done. Therefore, Paulo takes Raymond to the nicest hotel in Rio. Raymond trips up in a commotion at the door of the hotel, dropping his bag and spreading his cash all over the floor. Once he hastily shuffles it all away, the hotel clerks immediately show him to the Presidential suite of the hotel and welcomes him to the hotel. After a day of shopping, and generous spending Raymond reveals to Paulo he had originally come to Rio to look for the famous Samba dancer Orlinda (Vanessa Nunes).
On Christmas Day, Orlinda visits Raymond to give him a Christmas present. Raymond is still angry at the fact that she has ended him up in this situation. She tells him that she wished the money was only a small portion of what he owned and it wouldn't matter that she took it, and tells Raymond he's a "common crook". Leaving the safe after being ordered out, she tells Raymond not to give up hope. Raymond collects large portion of the money and claims its his. Orlinda then meets up with Paulo who takes his taxi and ties a rope to pull away at the bars of Raymond's prison.
Raymond then decides he should return the money to the bank, as he still has enough time to get back to England and return the money to the vaults without anybody noticing it had gone. He quickly buys a ticket back to London and hires a taxi driver to rush him back to the bank. However when he arrives, the police are all over the building. About to rush in and explain to the police inspector, he discovers that over the Christmas period, somebody had tunnelled into the vault and swiped the remainder of the money. Confused and relieved Raymond leaves the bank and intends to return to Rio. Catching a taxi, where a couple leave, he recognises them as his wife and Strothers who have evidently just returned from their holiday in Tenerife. He tells his wife he'll leave her the address of where he's living in Rio to send the divorce papers, resigns from his job and goes back to Rio. We next see him living with Orlinda and Paulo some years later with two babies and Bichero as his servant.
Soundtrack
- The soundtrack is Silencio, by Adriana Maciel
- The end credits is a song called Libera Geral by Terra Samba