kabulojewel overall, I liked this film. the parallel scenes boost the suspense , and especially the scenes in jail -the cell-,and mostly Raimundo's inmates,-their facial characteristics- were much superb. On top of this, the gentle music that kicked in with the sight of food was quite amusing and caused laughter.Like many other Latin American movies,much attention was given to the narrow pathways which surround the area.The ending was quite expected,but the way the ending happened, was the contrary, where,admittedly,I was left with a bitter sweet taste. BUT the one and only who made the movie , is Joao Miguel. the staggering expressions, the alterations of his feelings, the movement of his body, everything, made his performance superior. 7/10

AndreFernandes An excellent raw movie - Brazilian styled - with an intelligent writing and brilliant and intense acting. It goes through social issues - frequently revitised by Brazilian directors - such as crime, jails, prostitution and the employer/ employee tension. On human condition, the movie focus on trust and hierarchic position (both in society and jail) and how to climb it to the top (literally) and the benefits it brings. Meanwhile - within parallel story lines - there's a peculiar romance taking place with the ghost of betrayal always present, the same ghost that appeared when the gifted chef abandoned the "cochinhas" restaurant. To be honest, I think the soundtrack is, perhaps, the downside of the movie.

Claudio Carvalho The naive immigrant from the Northeast Raimundo Nonato (João Miguel) has just arrived in São Paulo and is hungry and without money. After eating in a smalltime restaurant, the owner Zulmiro (Zeca Cenovicz) offers him to clean the kitchen to pay the bill. On the next morning, he offers a job to Nonato, cooking and cleaning the kitchen; in return, he would eat and sleep in a small storage room, but without salary. The restaurant becomes a sensation with Nonato's appetizers "coxinha" and "pastel" and attracts the attention of Giovanni (Carlo Briani), the owner of the classy Italian restaurant Boccaccio, who offers a better job for him in the kitchen of his restaurant and teaches him the secrets of a good meal. Meanwhile, Nonato falls in love for the always hungry fat streetwalker Íria (Fabiula Nascimento), who refuses to kiss Nonato in the mouth, but has all sort of sex with him. Nonato proposes her and near to the day of their engaging party, he has a great deception that leads him to a tragedy.Raimundo Nonato a.k.a. "Alecrim" arrives in prison and shares a cell with seven prisoners leaded by Bujiú (Babu Santana). When the despised Nonato offers to improve their food cooking in the cell, he climbs in the inner hierarchy, sleeping no longer on the floor, but in the bunk bed immediately below Bujiú and earning respect from the other inmates.Food and cooking is the theme of many successful movies, like for example, Marco Ferreri's "La Grande Bouffe" (1973), Gabriel Axel's "Babettes Gæstebud" (1987), Peter Greenaway's "The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover" (1989), Tony Chan's "Combination Platter" (1993), Fina Torres'"Woman on Top" (2000) and Scott Hicks' "No Reservations" (2007), just to mention a few movies. There are countless good movies and series about relationship and hierarchy in prison, and "Prison Break" is probably one of the most recently famous. Therefore the theme of "Estômago" is not original but is commercial since viewers usually like it; further most of the characters are clichés. However "Estômago" is literally a delightful movie, supported by the great acting of João Miguel that is the reason why this movie works. The two parallel stories have the intention to hide the chronology and unfold only in the very end what had happened first, but unfortunately it fails and the only remaining question is why Nonato ended in jail. In accordance with the summary on the DVD, the conclusion is that in life there are those who devour and those who are devoured, but Raimundo Nonato finds an alternative way of life cooking. Two days ago, "Estômago" had fourteen nominations and was awarded by the Academia Brasileira de Cinema ("Brazilian Academy of Cinema") in the categories of best Brazilian movie of the year, best director and best supporting actor and was elected best movie by popular vote. On 28 April 2009, I watched this movie again. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Estômago" ("Stomach")

Raj Doctor I went to see a movie called Elegy at 12:15 pm show in Amsterdam and realized that it was running only at 1:30 pm; instantly browsed the list of movies and selected this strange looking name – Estomago - I thought it was Italian, later realized it was Portuguese. Never knew the meaning till writing this review – it means Stomach.Nonato (Joao Miguel) comes to Sao Paulo city – without any work; after eating food and with no money with him to pay for food, he lands up being hired as a helper cook in a small roadside restaurant. His skills in cooking delicious food with simple things make him hired by a rich high-end restaurant owner Giovanni (Carlo Briani). Nonato falls in love with a prostitute Iria (Fabiula Nascimento), but one day when he sees Iria and Giovanni having sex, his jealously leads him to kill both and Nonato ends up in prison. In prison cell with seven other inmates and headed by Bujiu (Babu Santana), Nonato starts at the lowest hierarchy sleeping without mattress on the floor. But his skills in cooking excellent food promotes him till the highest bumk bed below Bujiu. How he topples Bujiu to get the highest bunk bed formulates the ending of the story.The story runs in parallel narrative of Nonato's work and prison and till the very end one does not realize that which precedes which? This is director Marcos Jorge's second movie and first full length feature film. He tempers the narrative with great acumen of seasoned director – fantastic story idea (adopted partly from a short story – the prison part) and remaining written partly by Marcos himself in a team. Brilliant work in creating a screenplay that is laced with various moods, emotions, and cooking and food lessons.Joao Miguel – plays this innocent, dumb wit cook, and creates magic in filling true life in the character. Those moments in the film – when nothing is happening – Joao captures our imagination as a simpleton with a talent. Fabiula, fits perfectly as the road side – food hungry prostitute. The remaining casting is good and performs well.The movie is marketed as a fable – and it seems appropriate – because of its story and ingredients of sex, love, power, food.I would highly recommend this movie to any movie goer – who is hungry for good cinema.(Stars 8 out of 10)