Singularidades de uma Raparinga Loura
I am planning on seeing all the Berlinale movies that I am interested in but have not seen. So here’s the first one – a 60 minute pearl by 100-year old Oliveira. I think his age actually shows very heavily. The film feels like it’s from a different era, a color film that feels more black and white and old-fashioned than actual black and white movies are (think “À bout de souffle”!)
But really, the old-fashioned style of the film is absolutely lovely. It takes 30 minutes (i.e. half of the film) for the exposition of the story, until the moment happens that will actually set the plot in motion, like some event at the beginning of the second act of a play. A few turbulent things happen, until 2 minutes before the end of the film, the story gets wrapped up in a poignant, super short conclusion. The style and composition of the film made me vividly remember Oliveira’s “I’m Going Home” and realize that this director has the unusual gift of making films that incredibly slow, but not excruciatingly so. I am so immersed in the mood he is setting up that I never mind the slowness, or the fact that the plot is incredibly short.
On a side note, there aren’t that many Porguese movies out there. This is a rarity, and oh my God, the language also sounds so, so, so Polish?!
My first priority is seeing the one from the Berlinale I attended (of which I also saw “The International” and “John Rabe”.) So far, I was happy with all the films I have seen, including this one.
Hahahahaha, I think it’s the overabundance of “sh”-sounds, that makes you feel like that. Of course, I absolutely adore Portuguese…
And I really should watch it too, gimme gimme? :3
Ho ho ho ho. Very good. It is being dropped into your folder XD But really, I don’t know if I really would recommend the film, it’s also utterly strange. XD
there are probably three pretty important portuguese directors right now:
Manoel de Oliveira
João Pedro Rodrigues
Pedro Costa
from the first two, i’ve barely seen anything at all.
Pedro Costa is amazing.
i need to catch up!
“Morrer Como Um Homem” is currently my favorite film with a ’11 German release – and both “Colossal Youth” and “I’m Going Home” are amongst my decade tops…i seem to have a subconscious tendency towards Portuguese films?! xD
ooo, and i also forgot about Miguel Gomes’ “Our Beloved Month of August”, that I saw last year – which is a masterpiece with a Rivette-touch!
Oh my, fascinating! I had no idea what these are, and it’s interesting that you would like Portuguese films – but then again, this is so random that it suits you again. xD
I have heard of Pedro Costa, but never watched any of his films. He didn’t make very much, huh?
Which one is the ’11 German release?
“To Die Like a Man” is the english title of the film (apparently it is a 2009 film, but had a late release in Germany).
Pedro Costa has actually made quite a few films, they’ve just become available on many DVD labels (Criterion has this box-set of three films, one of which is CY). I would never recommend anyone to watch Colossal Youth, unless it is in the cinema, hahaha. My favorite film of his is probably “O Sangue”, which is a lovely Nicholas Ray hommage. Another one i’d immediately recommend is his wonderful documentary on Straub-Huillet, which is one of the better docs about filmmaking.
The Straub-Huillet also immediately caught my attention ;) Sounds interesting, I will definitely look into it!