This is it. This movie have a lot of good idea. But the crew did not got it.

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

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")

I saw this movie on the international film festival of Rotterdam, where it was rated 2nd on the audience price. Beautiful small and funny film, which you must see with a full stomach. A Brazilian / Italian co - production made with eye for detail, intelligent humor and some very funny twists, which seem to be very logical at the end of the movie. Two hours of entertainment, acted very well by all actors and a movie which will definitely find his way in all the festivals to become a major hit worldwide. I don't want to get into the story, it's one of those films who helps you to escape from the real world for a small two hours and from which you always thinks, why do i not see more movies like this? I really recommend this movie to an large audience. So go see this one, in a theater near by you or after dinner with your partner or some best friends.