Adventures in Iberia
AFS Essential Cinema: Viagem a Portugal: Contemporary Portuguese Cinema
By Kimberley Jones, Fri., April 9, 2010
Manoel de Oliveira was born in 1908, which makes his inclusion in any conversation about contemporary cinema something of a jaw-dropper. But there he is, still plugging away, more or less a picture a year, at the ripe old age of 101. Two of his films bookend the Austin Film Society's short new series, Viagem a Portugal: Contemporary Portuguese Cinema. 1997's Voyage to the Beginning of the World marks Marcello Mastroianni's last screen appearance (he plays a film director lamenting his age and a Portugal advancing so fast as to become unrecognizable), while Mastroianni's former paramour Catherine Deneuve pops in for the provocative 2003 film A Talking Picture, an on-the-nose title, to be sure. And that's for the best, really: de Oliveira has a straightforward visual style that teeters toward fustiness, but his dialogue – at once ambling and ambitious – is the real draw. Three more films round out the series, including Our Beloved Month of August (co-presented with Cine las Americas), a funny and engaging fact/fiction hybrid rooted in rural Portugal's native musical and cultural traditions.
Viagem a Portugal: Contemporary Portuguese Cinema
The series runs Tuesdays at 7pm at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. Admission is free for AFS members and $6 for nonmembers. For more info, visit www.austinfilm.org.
April 13: Voyage to the Beginning of the World (Viagem ao Princípio do Mundo) (1997) D: Manoel de Oliveira
April 20: Aguas Mil (April Showers) (2009) D: Ivo Ferreira
April 27: Our Beloved Month of August (Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto) (2008) D: Miguel Gomes
May 4: Noite Escura (In the Darkness of the Night) (2004) D: João Canijo
May 11: A Talking Picture (Um filme falado) (2003) D: Manoel de Oliveira
