November 1, 2020
2001-2010, Arthouse, Documentary, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal
626 Views
Quote:
This Proustian documentary, made when Oliveira was 93 years old, explores the great Portuguese film-maker’s relationship with his home town, Oporto, the place which inspired his first film Douro, Faina Fluvial way back in 1931. Using old photographs and newsreels with dramatic reconstructions, he offers a vivid portrait of a city caught between the old and the new. When he was a child, Oporto didn’t even have proper cinemas, film shows were improvised in sheds, Oliveira (born 1908) recalls. Most of the landmarks familiar from his youth have vanished. The brothels and cafés where he and his artist friends used to while away their days are long since closed. Even the house where he grew up is in ruins. The city I remember only remains alive in my sad memory, he sadly reflects. Poignant and playful, this is one of the old master’s most accessible late films. Read More »
September 3, 2020
1971-1980, Arthouse, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal, Romance
1,125 Views
Quote:
Made by Manoel de Oliveira, the Portuguese cinema’s leading figure, Amor de Perição is undoubtedly one of the most original films made in the last decade, but its riches are difficult to capture in a few sentences. Based on a famous novel by Camilo Castelo Branco, it centers on several love affairs, notably between the offspring of antagonistic noble families, and shows how social and moral laws conspire to defeat the lovers. Read More »
January 18, 2020
1991-2000, Arthouse, Drama, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal
1,531 Views
Quote:
In 1992 Oliveira made O Dia do Desespero, which deals with the last days and suicide of Romantic novelist Camilo Castelo Branco and is based largely on the writer’s letters. Most of it was filmed in the house where Castelo Branco in fact committed suicide. The film opens, midway through the credits, with a 50-second static shot of a pen-and-ink portrait of the writer. Other portraits, always shot with a static camera, punctuate the film’s narrative, lending it a documentary tone from the outset. Read More »
December 18, 2019
1991-2000, Comedy, Drama, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal
1,901 Views
Quote:
One of Manoel de Oliveira’s masterpieces, A Caixa (The Box) / Blind Man’s Bluff is an adaptation, in parable form, of a play of the same name by Prista Monteiro.
The action takes place around a flight of steps in a poor neighbourhood and is about the final misadventure of an old Blind Man who has yet again been robbed of the official alms box with which he earns is living. His daughter, besides doing the house work, wears herself out taking in washing. Her companion, an unemployed lay-about like many of his friends, lives off the Blind Man’s box which has just been stolen for the second time. Read More »
May 4, 2019
1981-1990, Arthouse, Documentary, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal
1,340 Views
a large-part-silent (an homage to Vigo) documentary by the master. Note that, after movie ends, last 14 minutes are blank. Read More »
March 31, 2019
1991-2000, Arthouse, Comedy, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal
1,661 Views
Quote:
The battle of the sexes? The forces of despair and seduction? On S. Miguel in the Azores, Rogério, a young man with old money, and his enigmatic wife Leonor host a garden party at their villa. The intriguing guests are an older unmarried couple, the philosophical and observant Irene, and Michel, a roué;. While Rogério and Irene talk, Michel and Leonor go down to the sea. The conversations upset Rogério and capture Leonor’s imagination. Five years later, the four dine at the villa. Michel and Leonor again leave the other two. Intentions and undercurrents are subtle. One of the four proves strong, one weak, and two must choose. Wind and rain bring down the curtain on both acts. Read More »
January 12, 2019
2001-2010, Arthouse, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal
2,028 Views
Social class, prideful martyrdom, and a dollop of beautifully expansive landscape weave a tale of operatic proportions, both by plot and physically exhaustive standards, in veteran Manoel de Oliveira’s latest exploration of motivation. Marrying for money instead of childhood love, Camila (Leonor Baldaque) naïvely assumes the supposed epic and selfless attributes of Joan of Arc to deal with her husband’s infidelity and the consistent treatment of being irrelevant to the very people that encouraged the doomed match. Read More »