{
 "id": "epygznmbp7",
 "slug": "o-homem-que-copiava",
 "title": "O Homem que Copiava",
 "updated": "2026-11-01",
 "topic_path": [
  {
   "id": "culture",
   "label": "Arts and culture",
   "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture"
  },
  {
   "id": "culture.performance",
   "label": "Screen and stage",
   "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance"
  },
  {
   "id": "culture.performance.screen",
   "label": "Film and television",
   "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen"
  },
  {
   "id": "culture.performance.screen.films",
   "label": "Films and standalone screen works",
   "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films"
  },
  {
   "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works",
   "label": "Individual films by title and year",
   "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works"
  },
  {
   "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance",
   "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)",
   "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance"
  },
  {
   "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2003-to-2004",
   "label": "Comedies of 2003 to 2004",
   "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2003-to-2004"
  },
  {
   "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2003-to-2004.alpha-m-to-y",
   "label": "Titles M to Y",
   "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2003-to-2004.alpha-m-to-y"
  }
 ],
 "geo": [
  {
   "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works",
   "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 2001 to 2020: Individual films by title and year",
   "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works",
   "path": [
    {
     "id": "geo.latam",
     "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean",
     "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam"
    },
    {
     "id": "geo.latam.t2001",
     "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 2001 to 2020",
     "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001"
    },
    {
     "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture",
     "label": "Arts and culture",
     "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture"
    },
    {
     "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance",
     "label": "Screen and stage",
     "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance"
    },
    {
     "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen",
     "label": "Film and television",
     "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen"
    },
    {
     "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films",
     "label": "Films and standalone screen works",
     "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films"
    },
    {
     "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works",
     "label": "Individual films by title and year",
     "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works"
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "excerpt": "O Homem que Copiava (The Man Who Copied) is a 2003 Brazilian comedy-drama-crime film, Jorge Furtado's second feature, starring Lázaro Ramos as a Porto Alegre photocopier operator who counterfeits a R$50 note, with Leandra Leal, Luana Piovani, and Pedro Cardoso.",
 "snippet": "O Homem que Copiava (The Man Who Copied) is a 2003 Brazilian comedy-drama-crime film, Jorge Furtado's second feature, starring Lázaro Ramos as a Porto Alegre photocopier operator who counterfeits a R$50 note, with Leandra Leal, Luana Piovani, and Pedro Cardoso.",
 "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2003-to-2004.alpha-m-to-y",
 "markdown": "# O Homem que Copiava\n\n**O Homem que Copiava** (English title: *The Man Who Copied*) is a 2003 Brazilian comedy-drama-crime film written and directed by Jorge Furtado, his second feature. Set in a gray [Porto Alegre](https://www.edgepedia.org/porto-alegre), it follows André, a 20-year-old photocopier operator who counterfeits a 50-real banknote to get close to the woman he loves, and watches the scheme spiral into robbery, blackmail, and murder. The film was produced by Casa de Cinema de Porto Alegre in coproduction with Globo Filmes and Columbia Tristar, and was released in Brazil on 13 June 2003.<sup>[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/comedia-dramatica/ohomemquecopiava.ghtml)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.omelete.com.br/filmes/criticas/io-homem-que-copiavai)</sup>\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 13 June 2003 (Brazil); 123 minutes; rated not recommended for under 14<sup>[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/comedia-dramatica/ohomemquecopiava.ghtml)</sup> |\n| Director and writer | Jorge Furtado, his second feature after *Houve uma vez dois verões* (2002)<sup>[2](https://www.omelete.com.br/filmes/criticas/io-homem-que-copiavai)</sup> |\n| Main cast | Lázaro Ramos (André), Leandra Leal (Sílvia), Luana Piovani (Marinês), Pedro Cardoso (Cardoso)<sup>[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/comedia-dramatica/ohomemquecopiava.ghtml)</sup> |\n| Production | Casa de Cinema de Porto Alegre with Globo Filmes and Columbia Tristar; budget of about R$3 million<sup>[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/comedia-dramatica/ohomemquecopiava.ghtml)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.omelete.com.br/filmes/criticas/io-homem-que-copiavai)</sup> |\n| Box office | About 700,000 admissions in Brazil; US$24,391 gross in the US and Canada<sup>[3](https://www.casacinepoa.com.br/noticias/2024-12-11-20-anos-de-o-homem-que-copiava/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.imdb.com/pt/title/tt0367859/)</sup> |\n| Ratings | IMDb 7.6/10 (about 13,000 votes); Rotten Tomatoes 68%<sup>[4](https://www.imdb.com/pt/title/tt0367859/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://www.omelete.com.br/filmes/ficha/o-homem-que-copiava)</sup> |\n| Notable awards | Best Actor for Lázaro Ramos at Havana (2003); APCA Best Brazilian Film (2003); Best Ibero-American Screenplay at Miami (2004)<sup>[6](https://arquivo.casacinepoa.com.br/os-filmes/produ%C3%A7%C3%A3o/longas/o-homem-que-copiava.html)</sup> |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nAndré (Lázaro Ramos) is 20 years old, has not finished secondary school, and works the photocopier at the J. Gomide stationery shop in Porto Alegre's 4th District, alongside Marinês (Luana Piovani). He earns little, pays installments on a television, and lives with his mother. He likes to draw, and he likes Sílvia (Leandra Leal), the neighbor he watches every night through binoculars from his window.<sup>[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/comedia-dramatica/ohomemquecopiava.ghtml)</sup>\n\nTo approach Sílvia, a saleswoman in a women's clothing shop, André needs exactly 38 reais to buy a chenille robe. His solution is to copy a 50-real note on the shop's photocopier and exchange it for genuine change. The trick works, and he repeats it, drawing in his friend Cardoso (Pedro Cardoso) and later Marinês. As the critic Robledo Milani of Papo de Cinema summarizes it, André, in love with the neighbor, decides to counterfeit a R$50 note to impress her with money.<sup>[7](https://www.papodecinema.com.br/filmes/o-homem-que-copiava/critica)</sup> From there the plot escalates through a supermarket cashier's suspicion, a lottery ticket, an armored-car robbery, and planned deaths, ending with a group of friends suddenly rich, two corpses, and a chicken surviving an explosion inside a cupboard.<sup>[3](https://www.casacinepoa.com.br/noticias/2024-12-11-20-anos-de-o-homem-que-copiava/)</sup>\n\nThe film's first half plays as a social portrait of a poor young man whom the rules of the economy leave behind; around the midpoint it turns into a comic crime farce that deploys the genre's stock elements, from the bank robbery to the getaway plan.<sup>[2](https://www.omelete.com.br/filmes/criticas/io-homem-que-copiavai)</sup> Critics have compared the turn to [Alfred Hitchcock](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfred-hitchcock)'s *Rear Window* (1954), in which a man watching through a lens stumbles onto a crime.<sup>[2](https://www.omelete.com.br/filmes/criticas/io-homem-que-copiavai)</sup>\n\n## Production\n\nFurtado worked on the script for years. The first draft is dated 15 October 1996, a Tuesday; the final revision came on 18 September 2001, also a Tuesday, six days before filming began.<sup>[2](https://www.omelete.com.br/filmes/criticas/io-homem-que-copiavai)</sup> The project was approved under Brazil's federal film incentive mechanisms: ANCINE records show R$3,239,182.91 approved and R$1,937,423.91 actually raised under Articles 1 and 3 of Law 8,685/93.<sup>[8](https://sad.ancine.gov.br/projetosaudiovisuais/ConsultaProjetosAudiovisuais.do?method=detalharProjeto&numSalic=993602)</sup>\n\nFurtado has said the character was shaped by the internet age. In the 1990s he read that a reader stayed on a web page for only about eight seconds, and he decided to create a protagonist who reflected that fragmented attention span.<sup>[3](https://www.casacinepoa.com.br/noticias/2024-12-11-20-anos-de-o-homem-que-copiava/)</sup> The film's title refers both to André's job and to Furtado's own method: he deliberately reprocesses artistic, literary, and cinematic influences, from Shakespeare to his own earlier shorts, and told the film's official site that when he wrote the script he had not yet seen [Krzysztof Kieślowski](https://www.edgepedia.org/krzysztof-kieslowski)'s *A Short Film About Killing* (*Não Amarás*, 1988), a film with several similarities to his own. \"The invention of an entirely new plot is impossible; everything is referenced in other things,\" he said.<sup>[9](https://criticos.com.br/?p=312)</sup>\n\n## Style\n\nThe film is narrated in first person by André, whose voice-over jumps rapidly from topic to topic, from the death of Saint Cecília to the price of a cafezinho, in a stream-of-consciousness flow that critics identify as one of its strengths.<sup>[10](https://cinemaemcena.com.br/criticas/o-homem-que-copiava)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[11](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrad/fq2506200320.htm)</sup> Furtado's direction uses visual devices to match: in one sequence he reconstructs the neighbor's bedroom piece by piece to show what André can see depending on the mirror's position, and animated sequences by cartoonist Allan Sieber (Toscographics) narrate the protagonist's past.<sup>[10](https://cinemaemcena.com.br/criticas/o-homem-que-copiava)</sup> The film also borrows the structure of a comic strip, mixing collage, metalinguistic jokes, irony, and social critique.<sup>[12](https://revistas.usp.br/caligrama/article/download/66054/68664/87435)</sup>\n\nMoney itself is treated as nearly a character. Marcelo Coelho wrote in Folha de S.Paulo that few Brazilian films had given money, in its material smallness and its absence, such a central narrative role: the film opens in a universe in which two or three reais make a crucial difference at the supermarket checkout.<sup>[11](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrad/fq2506200320.htm)</sup> Coelho also noted that the film's treatment of race is distinctive: André is young, Black, and poor, yet the plot never makes his color a factor or a source of drama.<sup>[11](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrad/fq2506200320.htm)</sup>\n\n## Reception and awards\n\nThe film drew about 700,000 moviegoers in Brazil and is regarded as a classic of both [Rio Grande do Sul](https://www.edgepedia.org/rio-grande-do-sul) and national cinema.<sup>[3](https://www.casacinepoa.com.br/noticias/2024-12-11-20-anos-de-o-homem-que-copiava/)</sup> Its festival record includes Best Actor for Lázaro Ramos at the 25th Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana (2003), Best Direction at the 8th Kerala International Film Festival (2003), Best Ibero-American Screenplay at the 21st Miami International Film Festival (2004), the APCA prize for Best Brazilian Film of 2003, and the ACIE award for Best Brazilian Film of 2003, among audience and critics' prizes at [Punta del Este](https://www.edgepedia.org/punta-del-este), Montevideo, Paris, and Lima.<sup>[6](https://arquivo.casacinepoa.com.br/os-filmes/produ%C3%A7%C3%A3o/longas/o-homem-que-copiava.html)</sup> Furtado also received the Best Director award at the Grande Prêmio Cinema Brasil.<sup>[13](https://redeglobo.globo.com/filmes/noticia/2016/06/corujao-lazaro-ramos-estrela-comedia-o-homem-que-copiava.html)</sup>\n\nCritical reception was broadly positive, with reservations. Papo de Cinema's panel averaged 8.4 out of 10, and Robledo Milani called the film a landmark while faulting an exaggerated, obsessive narration in its first half.<sup>[7](https://www.papodecinema.com.br/filmes/o-homem-que-copiava/critica)</sup> Marcelo Coelho's dissenting view in Folha held that the film's critical subtext was swallowed by the immorality of the very system it wanted to denounce.<sup>[11](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrad/fq2506200320.htm)</sup> A comparative academic study of the reviews in *Veja* (Ruy Boscov) and *Bravo!* (Kátia Laub) found sharply different persuasive strategies behind positive verdicts in both magazines.<sup>[14](https://ri.ucsal.br/bitstreams/c1ab8c77-bc85-49ef-aa21-ae4115ea329b/download)</sup>\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film's afterlife includes an unusual case of copying. A 2009 Indian film, *Currency*, directed by Swathi Bhaskar, was found to be an unauthorized adaptation of *O Homem que Copiava*, and the episode became the subject of scholarly discussion of authorship, originality, and intertextuality.<sup>[15](https://revistas.usp.br/Rumores/pt_BR/article/view/214830)</sup> Twenty years after release, Casa de Cinema described the film as one of the high points of Brazilian cinema of this century, and it remains a frequent reference point in Brazilian viewers' lists of favorite national films.<sup>[3](https://www.casacinepoa.com.br/noticias/2024-12-11-20-anos-de-o-homem-que-copiava/)</sup>\n\n## References\n\n1. [O Homem Que Copiava, Gshow/Globo Filmes (sinopse, elenco, ficha técnica)](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/comedia-dramatica/ohomemquecopiava.ghtml)\n2. [O Homem que Copiava, crítica de Marcelo Hessel, Omelete](https://www.omelete.com.br/filmes/criticas/io-homem-que-copiavai)\n3. [20 anos de O HOMEM QUE COPIAVA, Casa de Cinema de Porto Alegre (com matéria de Carlos Redel, GaúchaZH)](https://www.casacinepoa.com.br/noticias/2024-12-11-20-anos-de-o-homem-que-copiava/)\n4. [O Homem que Copiava (2003), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/pt/title/tt0367859/)\n5. [O Homem Que Copiava, ficha no Omelete](https://www.omelete.com.br/filmes/ficha/o-homem-que-copiava)\n6. [O homem que copiava, Casa de Cinema de Porto Alegre (prêmios e créditos)](https://arquivo.casacinepoa.com.br/os-filmes/produ%C3%A7%C3%A3o/longas/o-homem-que-copiava.html)\n7. [O Homem Que Copiava, crítica de Robledo Milani, Papo de Cinema](https://www.papodecinema.com.br/filmes/o-homem-que-copiava/critica)\n8. [Projeto Homem Que Copiava (O), SALIC 993602, ANCINE](https://sad.ancine.gov.br/projetosaudiovisuais/ConsultaProjetosAudiovisuais.do?method=detalharProjeto&numSalic=993602)\n9. [HOMEM QUE COPIAVA, O, crítica de Marcelo Janot, Críticos.com.br](https://criticos.com.br/?p=312)\n10. [O Homem Que Copiava, crítica de Pablo Villaça, Cinema em Cena](https://cinemaemcena.com.br/criticas/o-homem-que-copiava)\n11. [Dois lados de uma mesma cédula, Marcelo Coelho, Folha de S.Paulo, 25/06/2003](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrad/fq2506200320.htm)\n12. [Inventividade e identidade no filme O homem que copiava, Lílian Fleury Dória, Caligrama (USP)](https://revistas.usp.br/caligrama/article/download/66054/68664/87435)\n13. [Corujão: Lázaro Ramos estrela a comédia 'O Homem Que Copiava', Rede Globo](https://redeglobo.globo.com/filmes/noticia/2016/06/corujao-lazaro-ramos-estrela-comedia-o-homem-que-copiava.html)\n14. [Análise retórico-comparativa de críticas cinematográficas ao cinema brasileiro atual: o caso O Homem que Copiava, Fernanda Félix Carvalho Martins, UCSal](https://ri.ucsal.br/bitstreams/c1ab8c77-bc85-49ef-aa21-ae4115ea329b/download)\n15. [Copiando O Homem que Copiava: intertextualidades, fragmentos e autoria, RuMoRes (USP)](https://revistas.usp.br/Rumores/pt_BR/article/view/214830)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2003 to 2004 › Titles M to Y*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n",
 "same_as": [],
 "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/o-homem-que-copiava",
 "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/o-homem-que-copiava.md",
 "license": {
  "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0",
  "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license",
  "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.",
  "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0"
 },
 "credit": "\"O Homem que Copiava\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/o-homem-que-copiava. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.",
 "credit_md": "\"[O Homem que Copiava](https://www.edgepedia.org/o-homem-que-copiava)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/o-homem-que-copiava](https://www.edgepedia.org/o-homem-que-copiava). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).",
 "credit_html": "\"<a href=\"https://www.edgepedia.org/o-homem-que-copiava\">O Homem que Copiava</a>\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), <a href=\"https://www.edgepedia.org/o-homem-que-copiava\">https://www.edgepedia.org/o-homem-que-copiava</a>. <a href=\"https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\">Edgepedia Community License 1.0</a>.",
 "speakable": "O Homem que Copiava is a 2003 Brazilian comedy-drama-crime film, Jorge Furtado's second feature, starring Lázaro Ramos as a Porto Alegre photocopier operator who counterfeits a R$50 note, with Leandra Leal, Luana Piovani, and Pedro Cardoso."
}