INTERVIEW WITH BRUNO BARRETO (CONT'D)
Would you say Rio is also a character in the film?
Undoubtedly. Yet, it's a Rio which everyone would have liked to have known, a Rio freeze-framed in its modern '50s architecture, by renowned city planners Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. The film locations include Arpoador Beach, the city's historical landmark Copacabana Palace Hotel, Botafogo Bay, art deco buildings, a Rio in which it is impossible for anyone to be happy alone. Such a gorgeous city that you have to have someone, you have to be in love, otherwise you can't be happy. I usually say that people work and make money in São Paulo, they shop in New York, and they make movies in Los Angeles. But in Rio, you have to be in love with someone for the city's many charms to work. If you're alone, the city doesn't work. This need to be in love in Rio is yet another subtext of the film. But I must say it's not a period film. The story is set in current days, it's plot and characters are contemporary. This film represents to me what "Samba do Avião" represented to Tom Jobim. Or what Manhattan was for Woody Allen. Except that in Manhattan it was Gershwin and New York. In BOSSA NOVA, it's Tom Jobim and Rio. I wanted to write a love letter to the city in which I was born and raised.

Why is the film dedicated to Antonio Carlos Jobim and François Truffaut?
François Truffault is by far the filmmaker I admire the most and one I've always considered my greatest master. Hence, BOSSA NOVA is dedicated to him, as well as Tom Jobim, a great friend of mine, with whom I worked in Gabriela. Tom Jobim and François Truffaut have never met in their lifetimes, but they should have. Had this meeting occurred, surely they'd have ended up working together - Truffaut should have shot a film to the song "Insensatez". They had everything to do with one another, therefore, I promoted that encounter in my dedication. I'd say Tom's songs and the romanticism of Truffaut's films were my greatest inspirations for this film, although there were several others, such as the casual style of Howard Hawks' romantic comedies. I love comedies such as Sabrina and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. They are very funny and also very touching.