Claudio Carvalho Lourenço (Selton Mello) is a dealer that buys belongings of needy people by a lower price to profit reselling them. He is a deranged, cold and selfish man that sees people like objects for sale, exploiting their needs. When he meets the waitress of a cheap diner, he falls in love for her butt and does not know what to do when she shows affection for him. He believes that the smell of the sewer strainer of his bathroom is blurring his mind and is a gateway to hell, but refuses to pay for its repair. When a junkie client abused by the power of his money reacts, the world of the controller Lourenço begins to fall apart."O Cheiro do Ralo" is a weird and unpleasant tale of the insanity process of a man completely obsessed by the power of his money. The Kafkaesque story is intriguing but unfortunately goes nowhere and has a pointless end. Selton Mello, as usual, has a magnificent performance but the situations are repetitive and this low-budget Brazilian movie is too long. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Cheiro do Ralo" ("The Smell of the Sewer Strainer")

mario_c A great film! More than a great movie it's a very good metaphor to the materialistic and "cold" society we have nowadays, never caring about people's feelings, but about money and power through money instead. The film is full of irony and sarcastic humor and criticizes very well those people who think they can buy everything with their money, even other people. Even the title (which literary translated means "The smell of the drain") is sarcastically humorous and a metaphor to characterize such people, without any character, scrupulous, or even feelings! The acting by Selton Mello, which plays LOURENÇO, the main character, is excellent! The whole plot is around his character but he does it very well, because he can really be an annoying and irritating character (having that personality I did refer before). The work done by Paula Braun is also very good (and, by the way, she's beautiful!), but I must say I didn't like very much to watch her character fall into LOURENÇO's will, I mean, at the end she does exactly what he wants her to do, when before she had shown a strong character refusing his "indecent proposal": receive some money to show her ass! Of course it's a way this movie has to show us that in this "rotten society" money can really buy anything, and even change people's mind; but I didn't appreciate to watch this changing in the "GARÇONETE" character anyway.The soundtrack is also fine.It's a very simple movie, but works very well as a metaphor, so I score it 8/10.

longojr It is great how the movie and the book analyze the hypocrisy of a beautifully masked society. And just like the main message of the film, it is perfectly "acted" by everyone (actors and "characters").The movie contains an ambiguous quality that fits like hand gloves what I call "the history of human-bullshit recycling", and with the depiction of the "butt worship" it makes an intentional "not pleasant" wonderful piece of entertainment.In Brazil, men love a big and round behind (mainly women's!). However, this "passion" hides its own fragrance! And anyone must admit, like any society, despite its attractive, round, pompous, juicy, (maybe) tanned and hot looks, there's always the inner (behind the mask)essence, which is not only ignored (or dumped) but also wrapped and hidden from all senses.No one loves dirty things, but when given a nice shape and looks we all end up eating and swallowing it, hence McDonald's worldwide success, the never ending corruption in politics, prejudice, the murdering of great pacifists, fake modesty, humanity's attraction to violence, and most of Hollywood remakes!The search for a meaningful human existence is finally over! It all comes down to worn out dippers!

Jessica Carvalho Lourenço buys used goods ( mostly antiquities or unusual things) from people who needs money. In his shop, there is a drain inside the bathroom, that smells terrible and makes the entire shop to smell as well. He becomes embarrassed by it's smell and every time a client enters his officer, he explains that the terrible smell comes from the drain. Eventually, he becomes more and more annoyed,stressed and strange. He ends his relationship with his fiancée and becomes interested in a girl who works in a bar. Well, not exactly the girl, but her....butt! And as more time passes, Lourenço becomes more strange, starting even to control people with his money...I watched ''Cheiro do Ralo'' in the opening screens here in Brazil( The actor Selton Mello was present and the director as well).This movie has an independent production (it was made with a very low budget) and is based in a book by the same name, that I never read, by the way.Because of it's name (something like ''The Smell of the Drain''') I thought this movie would be terrible and I even laugh when I heard it. But it actually showed to be very good and unusual, with the character Lourenço becoming more strange,sick and bizarre as the time passes. How to forget the glass eye he buys and uses to 'see'things all the time, for example? Another nice thing to say, is that Selton Mello, the main actor and character , was not payed for this movie. This is one of the coolest things to see in a REAL actor, when he does his job for pleasure and because the project is good.Ps: Selton Mello is a famous actor here in Brazil.