A painting of me

Black Orpheus

   3 August 2004, terribly early in the morning

I bought Black Orpheus a few days ago. I finally watched the film today. Black Orpheus is a retelling of the classic Greek story of Orpheus and Eurydice, set during the Carnival in Brazil. The film is famous for its music, there are some nice Bossa Nova tracks mixed in with some feet stomping Samba. There are numerous drawn out scenes of the characters dancing that are shot quite well. The movie is a real pleasure to watch. The cinematography of the movie is beautiful. I imagine the film would have been considered quite progressive when it was made. The cast is predominately black, the sexuality in the film isn’t overt, but it isn’t hidden either, and the music was nothing foreign audiences would have heard before. Black Orpheus is definitely worth watching.

 

Comments

  1. I have to say though, I expected more from the transfer. I have high expectations when it comes to Criterion films, and I expected this print to be better then it was. I noticed lots of video artifacts while watching the film. That said, this may very well be the best version of the movie out there. Reviews of the movie by people who have seen earlier releases seem to suggest that.

    by ramanan on August 3 2004, 6:26 am   #

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