Title (Brazil): `Ninguém É Perfeito' (`Nobody is Perfect') The story is about respect, specially for the minorities, showing that nobody is flawless. ![]() The dialogs between Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman are excellent. But indeed it is a very good film, with a touching story. This movie was a great surprise for me: I did not expected much, since drama it is not the specialty of Joel Schumacher. Meanwhile, the bandits look for the missing stolen money. The initial lack of respect between Walt and Rusty becomes a friendship in the end of the story. Along his treatment, his doctor suggests singing classes with Rusty to improve his speech. However, he has a stroke and becomes half paralyzed. Listening to the shots, Walt gets his gun and chases the murderers. One day, the money of a powerful boss of a gang in the neighborhood is stolen and the criminals chase the thief and kill his girlfriend and him in the building where Walt lives. Rusty Zimmerman (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a drag queen, neighbor of Walt, who aims to make a surgery for changing his sex. Through this film we see two opposites find an unlikely kinship and embrace each other’s differences and accept each other as friends.Walt Koontz (Robert De Niro) is a highly honored retired policeman, living in a community with many gays. Koontz is able to be vulnerable and open, something he can’t do with his friends and Rusty is able to show a bit of how damaged he is instead of always showing himself as happy and as if nothing bothers him. ![]() Naturally these two continue to clash until slowly over time the being brought together allows some walls to come down for both characters and let them show who they really are. From the start of the film we see these two characters clash on a constant, their differences keeping them as enemies, but after Koontz’s stroke he is forced to turn to the homosexual he hates for singing lessons that will aid him in regaining his speech. The best thing about that in this film is that it demonstrates how polar opposite their world is to Koontz world. But the characters in this film were open free-spirited queens with a unique zest for life and I loved every minute of them. If they were depicting average, every day gay men then yes this would have gone too far. Many films that portray members of the gay community tend to go too far over the top, is there such a thing as over the top drag queens? Honestly, I don’t think so, drag is naturally overtly confronting and demands attention at all times and I feel the scenes depicting drag really showcased it. Hoffman delivers a perfect performance where he too never breaks character, from the physical composer to the mannerisms and the verbal signatures he remains consistent from start to finish. The late Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Rusty, a transgender drag queen who also works as a music teacher to save up for his gender reassignment surgery. ![]() He continued to hold that character for the entire film and never broke character once, even more impressive is that even while depicting the after effects of the stroke he still is able to project the same characteristics his character had prior to his stroke. Through most of the film De Niro must portray a person severely handicapped by a stroke, while also slowly showing the rehabilitation of the character. ![]() Robert De Niro plays Walt Koontz, a homophobic/chauvinistic/retired police officer who after a stroke is given a huge dose of humility. Without strong performances, this film would sink before it reaches the end, which is why I can appreciate the impeccable casting that occurred in this film. This is one of those simple films that relies heavily on the performances of the actors in it to hold it all together. Flawless isn’t a film that is suitable for everyone’s palate, but it is perfect for mine.
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