Portugal

  • Paulo Rocha – A Ilha dos Amores AKA The Island of Love [CUT] (1982)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaPaulo RochaPortugal

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    Quote:
    The film traces the life and times of Wenceslau de Moraes (b. Lisbon 1854, d. Tokushima 1929), the great Portuguese writer who lived in the Far East. 1891: Moraes breaks with his mistress and leaves Portugal for Macao, never to return. 1895: While in Macao, he becomes fascinated by Japan, leaving his Chinese wife and their two children. 1912: Moraes is living and writing in Robe, in the south of Japan, as Portuguese Consul, with his Japanese wife Oyone. 1913-16: Deeply affected by the death of Oyone, Moraes quits his post and goes to live in poverty, near the tomb of his wife. However, he soon becomes involved with a young niece of Oyone’s, Ko-Haru, who eventually dies of tuberculosis. 1916-29: Moraes is transformed into a ghostly figure, wandering at night around the graves of Oyone and Ko-Haru. He writes his most mature works at this time, while his literary fame continues to grow in Portugal. 1929: Moraes dies under obscure circustances.Read More »

  • Manuel Mozos – Ramiro (2017)

    Drama2011-2020Manuel MozosPortugal

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    From imdb:
    Ramiro is a bookstore owner in Lisbon and a poet in perpetual creative block. He lives, somewhat frustrated, somewhat conformed, between his shop and the tavern, accompanied by his dog, his faithful drinking companions and his neighbors: a pregnant teenager and her grandmother recovering from a stroke. He would gladly continue living this quiet and somewhat anachronistic routine if events worthy of a soap opera did not invade his bubble.Read More »

  • Manoel de Oliveira – Amor de Perdição AKA Doomed Love (1979)

    Drama1971-1980ArthouseManoel de OliveiraPortugal

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    A story about doomed love between to people from different worlds and the impact in their lives.Read More »

  • Pedro Pinho – A Fábrica de Nada AKA The Nothing Factory (2017)

    2011-2020DramaPedro PinhoPoliticsPortugal

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    When management begins to sell off equipment at a factory that makes elevator parts, the workers become nervous about their job security. As they weigh their options, including a strike and a tongue-in-cheek suggestion at an armed response, the workers are forced to continue showing up at work.Read More »

  • Pedro Costa – Ne change rien (2009)

    2001-2010DocumentaryPedro CostaPerformancePortugal

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    In Ne change rien, we see the French actress/singer Jeanne Balibar rehearsing, recording, performing and practicing with a singing coach for an opera bouffe by Jacques Offenbach. The Portuguese director Pedro Costa, a friend of Balibar’s who did the camera work himself, filmed her in long, static shots in which all attention is focused on her performance. This film, shot digitally, shows how versatile Balibar is. Costa also manages to portray the creative process, for instance in a scene in which Balibar and her guitarist Rodolphe Burger try out several variations of a song. Costa’s intimate portrait of the singer is filmed in black-and-white. Costa, who is celebrating his 50th birthday this year and who made his debut in 1989 with the feature O sangue, has seen many of his films screened in Rotterdam over the years.Read More »

  • José Pedro Lopes – A Floresta das Almas Perdidas AKA The Forest of Lost Souls (2017)

    2011-2020ArthouseHorrorJosé Pedro LopesPortugal

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    A man walks through the Forest of Lost Souls, a place where many go to end their lives. Ricardo is a depressed family father looking for the place where his daughter killed herself. Carolina is a gloomy young woman with a macabre fascination for death, and a clear plan for why she’s in the forest. For a short while the two meet and try to affect each other’s decision, but only one of them is telling the truth. What happens in the forest goes against genre conventions and is a complete surprise.

    José Pedro Lopes debut feature swept the festival circuit by storm and has been hailed as one of the year’s best films. It’s a film that challenges its audience, and delivers darkness with a poetic aesthetic. What starts as an existential observation evolves into an innovative slasher-film only to return to its starting point and tie it all together in a way that will overwhelm its audience.Read More »

  • Marco Martins – São Jorge AKA Saint George (2016)

    2011-2020DramaMarco MartinsPortugal

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    From TMDB:
    In 2011 Portugal began the so-called “year of the Troika” (EU, IMF and ECB budget cuts and economic restructuring), with the level of debt among the Portuguese people reaching staggering amounts and a growing number of families and companies unable to repay their installment loans. Jorge is an unemployed boxer on the verge of losing his son and his wife, who has decided to return to Brazil. As a means of paying off his debt and persuading his wife to remain in Portugal, Jorge accepts a job with a debt-collection agency, which will drag him into a world of violence and crime.Read More »

  • Pedro Costa – O Sangue AKA Blood (1989)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaPedro CostaPortugal

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Vicente, seventeen, lives with brother Nino, ten-years-old, and his ailing father in a derelict house on the outskirts of the capital. They don’t seem to remember their mother, and are very much attached to their father, despite his temper, and his frequent absences from home. One day, the father leaves for good, and Vicente and Nino swear to cover it up. It’s their secret. Clara, the primary school assistant, is fascinatingly beautiful, and secretive, and (may be) she knows it aswel. There are other secrets, though: the origin of the money that appears at Vicente’s house; the relationship between Vicente’s well-to-do uncle and his girlfriend; the relationship between the four people who once played the cards together, and now can’t stand each other.Read More »

  • Teresa Villaverde – Colo (2017)

    2011-2020DramaPortugalTeresa Villaverde

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    In Portugal, a father, a mother and a daughter’s daily lives are being subsumed by the effects of the economic crisis.

    Quote:
    Colo, a new film by Alce Films from Writer/Director Teresa Villaverde was screened at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival in Competition. The film utilized an unorthodox approach. After the opening scene of over-the-sholuder close-ups and Hollywood style medium close-ups on reverse angles, deep focus long-shots were utilized. Often times the frame pulled out rather than pushing in – a more typical filmmaking technique.Read More »

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