The Girl Next Door

For better or worse, this is an 80's Brazilian version of "Lolita" that does cast an actual "Lolita" in it. The story (I think--my Portugese is even more questionable than the content of this movie)is about a married journalist who falls for a 15-year-old nymphet living next door with her goofy aunt and uncle. While this is a very common story, the actress involved in these kind of movies is usually a few years older than her character, but I don't believe this particular actress was at the time. Still, this movie is a long way from porno, or even a Brazilian "pornochachada" (a 80's softcore sex genre that I've become a big fan of). It's more of a straight drama--although, for better or worse, it is a little more liberal than a film of its kind would be in the US.

I don't want to drool over the girl in this like some kind of pervert (and I genuinely would have preferred an older actress), but it's just an honest fact that heterosexual males of all ages would feel SOME attraction to a girl like this, even if most wouldn't cross the line as the main character here does. So I think moral indignation would be pretty disingenuous, and this movie is really not deserving of it anyway. More shocking than any of the sexual content actually is the casual teen smoking and an abortion clinic scene. Surprisingly, they actually still show this movie on cable TV in Brazil these days. I watched it and I squirmed a little as an uptight Protestant, but it didn't send me down to the local high school frothing at the mouth either.. .