Bingo: The King of the Mornings · reception & legacy
2017 · Daniel Rezende
How Bingo: The King of the Mornings has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
A warm crowd-pleaser at home in 2017 — Brazil even sent it to the Oscars — but it never got nominated, and abroad it settled into 'that wild Brazilian clown biopic' status rather than becoming a breakout.
Its footprint
For Brazilians it's inseparable from Bozo nostalgia: it's the story of the country's Bozo the Clown in all but name (the clown was rechristened 'Bingo'), so every conversation about it turns into a conversation about 1980s kids' TV.
Where it stands
A niche pick internationally, but a fun deep cut for cinephiles who know it as the directorial debut of the City of God editor.
★ Did you know? Director Daniel Rezende was the Oscar-nominated editor of City of God making his feature directing debut, and the film — inspired by Arlindo Barreto, one of the actors who played Brazil's Bozo — was chosen as Brazil's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards.