E-Mail This Article to a Friend O HOMEM QUE COPIAVA/THE MAN WHO COPIED

Brazilian writer/director Jorge Furtado comes off as an original — at the outset anyway — with this kinetic portrayal of a disaffected young photocopier operator. In relentless voiceover, André (Lázaro Ramos) recounts mind-numbing days of button pushing and lonely nights spent drawing an autobiographical comic that in amusing detours springs to animated life. For fun, he spies Rear Window–style on a cute neighbor (Leandra Leal), and that soon sparks a relationship. But love further drains his wallet, and the desperate copy jockey transforms his job into a more lucrative pursuit: counterfeiting money. That’s when the film goes emotionally broke, swapping its wry social commentary about Brazil’s working poor for a ludicrous, half-baked caper plot. Only the lively performances of Luana Piovani as André’s voluptuous, virginal co-worker and Pedro Cardoso as a junk dealer salivating for deflowering honors sustain Homem’s initial energy. Try as he might, Furtado can’t duplicate the first half’s charms.