Black Orpheus
Release date: 1959-06-12
Votes: 225
Genres: Drama, Romance
Young lovers Orfeu and Eurydice run through the favelas of Rio during Carnaval, on the lam from a hitman dressed like Death and Orfeu's vengeful fiancée Mira and passing between moments of fantasy and stark reality. This impressionistic retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice introduced bossa nova to the world with its soundtrack by young Brazilian composers Luiz Bonfá and Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Reviews
CinemaSerf
I reckon this was always going to be a bit of a creatively risky venture and for me: a Frenchman moving a Greek myth to the culturally diverse Brazil was always going to be quite an ask. It's colourful and well cast, but I am afraid the story just muddled up too many themes for me. The premiss is the same as the ancient story, with this time "Eurydice" (Marpessa Dawn) having fled her home town to avoid the unwelcome attentions of a suitor. She encounters tram driver "Orfeu" (Breno Mello) and pretty much instantly they hit it off. He serenades her with his carousing guitar music - despite the fact that he is already promised to "Mira" (Lourdes de Olivera). Guess what? "Mira" isn't too impressed with her boyfriend's philandering and when "Eurydice" goes off the grid amidst all the celebrations and colour that is mardi gras, "Orfeu" suspects everyone and must set off on a search that will test his mettle and his love - and put him in the path of death itself! I enjoyed the idea but somehow it just didn't quite work. Surely there must be local mythology that could have been better applied here? It reminded me a little of Preminger's "Carmen Jones" (1954) in that by simply relocating a classic story to a new and vibrant scenario, you lose quite a lot of what made the original story work in the first place - even if it is a timeless love story that ought, on paper, to be easily transferrable. There's no doubt, though, a cracking chemistry between Mello and Dawn and I did enjoy Olivera's performance too. There is some beautiful and captivating photography of Rio de Janeiro that does illustrate the vibrancy of the place, and it's a beautiful film to watch. The story? Well I'm not so sure it marries so well and there's just too much focus on the environment and not enough on developing the characters.
Movie Recommendation
French Cancan1955-04-09Nineteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in Jean Renoir’s exhilarating tale of the opening of the world-renowned Moulin Rouge. Jean Gabin plays the wily impresario Danglard, who makes the cancan all the rage while juggling the love of two beautiful women—an Egyptian belly-dancer and a naive working girl turned cancan star.More...
Autumn2008-08-07Arrested while a student in university, Yusuf is released from prison after ten years. He returns home and is welcomed by his sick and elderly mother. Soon he will meet Eka, a beautiful Georgian girl who is a sex worker, and love becomes a final desperate attempt to grasp life and elude loneliness.More...
Biggie & Tupac2002-01-11In 1997, rap superstars Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (aka Biggie Smalls, The Notorious B.I.G.) were gunned down in separate incidents, the apparent victims of hip hop's infamous east-west rivalry. Nick Broomfield's film introduces Russell Poole, an ex-cop with damning evidence that suggests the LAPD deliberately fumbled the case to conceal connections between the police, LA gangs and Death Row Records, the label run by feared rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight.More...
Snakes and Earrings2008-09-20While alone in a nightclub, straight-laced Lui meets sensitive but troubled punk kid Ama. Mesmerized by his split tongue, she becomes obsessed with body modification and soon wants the same treatment. After Ama's heavily-tattooed friend Shiba pierces her tongue, Lui finds herself inexorably drawn to both men – and to her growing list of desires, she now adds a tattoo.More...
The Baby-Sitters Club1995-08-18Seven junior-high-school girls organize a daycare camp for children while at the same time experiencing classic adolescent growing pains.More...
Baby Doll1956-12-29Archie Lee Meighan is a failing cotton gin owner who is married to Baby Doll, a 19-year old childlike beauty whose father arranged the marriage for financial reasons. As Archie awaits the arrival of Baby Doll's 20th birthday, the day that they are supposed to consummate their marriage, he faces interference from business rival Silva Vacarro, who plots to seduce Baby Doll away from Meighan.More...
Madame Satã2002-10-03In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro of the 1930s, João Francisco dos Santos is several things — son of slaves, ex-convict, thug, homosexual and adopted father for a number of pariahs. João expresses himself on the stage of a cabaret as Madame Satã.More...
Shock Treatment1981-08-21Brad and Janet Majors find their strained marriage put to the test on popular Denton TV show Marriage Maze. Poor Brad is heavily sedated and institutionalised, whilst Janet is given a radical makeover and primed for stardom. But what are the real motivations behind the kooky DTV crew and their enigmatic head-honcho, Farley Flavors?More...
The Harder They Come1972-08-01Ivanhoe Martin arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, looking for work and, after some initial struggles, lands a recording contract as a reggae singer. He records his first song, "The Harder They Come," but after a bitter dispute with a manipulative producer named Hilton, soon finds himself resorting to petty crime in order to pay the bills. He deals marijuana, kills some abusive cops and earns local folk hero status. Meanwhile, his record is topping the charts.More...
Huckleberry Finn1974-05-24Huckleberry Finn is a 15-year-old boy who has had a difficult relationship with his often violent father for a long time. When Dad tried to kidnap him, Huck decides to run away from home, and heads out of town on a raft. Huck is soon joined by Jim, a runaway slave who is no more eager to see his master than Huck is to see his father. As the two friends make their way down the Mississippi, they're faced with a variety of challenges and adventures.More...
Anatomia do Fauno2016-04-08Inspired by Arthur Rimbaud's utopian poetics, who dreamed of a universal language without words that directly touches the senses, Anatomy of the Faun acts at the limits between theater and performance. It seeks to dissect the infernal seasons and illuminations of the contemporary homoerotic scene. The mythological figure of the Faun, removed from his natural environment and placed in a city like São Paulo, is a guiding thread for this journey through the shadows and articular lights of metropolitan nights. Walking from disease to cure, this Faun is guided to the anatomy of a body that overcomes the failures of our humanity you have consumed.More...
A Perfect Couple2005-09-14A French couple has been living in Lisbon for years, and they return to Paris for a friend's wedding. They announce to another friend they are having dinner with that they are going to split.More...
An Ideal Husband1999-01-14Sir Robert Chiltern is a successful government minister, well-off and with a loving wife. All this is threatened when Mrs Cheveley appears in London with damning evidence of a past misdeed. Sir Robert turns for help to his friend Lord Goring, an apparently idle philanderer and the despair of his father. Goring knows the lady of old, and, for him, takes the whole thing pretty seriously.More...
Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle2021-07-21Japan, 1944. Trained for intelligence work, Hiroo Onoda, 22 years old, discovers a philosophy contrary to the official line: no suicide; stay alive whatever happens; the mission is more important than anything else. Sent to Lubang, a small island in the Philippines where the Americans are about to land, this role will be to wage a guerrilla war until the return of the Japanese troops. The Empire will surrender soon after; Onoda, 10,000 days later.More...
Inherit the Wind1960-07-07Schoolteacher Bertram Cates is arrested for teaching his students Darwin's theory of evolution. The case receives national attention and one of the newspaper reporters, E.K. Hornbeck, arranges to bring in renowned defense attorney and atheist Henry Drummond to defend Cates. The prosecutor, Matthew Brady is a former presidential candidate, famous evangelist, and old adversary of Drummond.More...
An Average Little Man1977-03-17A middle-aged government accountant is determined to secure a stable job for his son before retiring, willing to go to great lengths to achieve his goal.More...
The Gospel According to St. Matthew1965-03-03Along a rocky, barren coastline, Jesus begins teaching, primarily using parables. He attracts disciples; he's stern, brusque, and demanding. His parables often take on the powers that be, so he and his teachings come to the attention of the Pharisees, the chief priests, and elders. They conspire to have him arrested, beaten, tried, and crucified, just as he prophesied to his followers.More...
L'Atalante1934-04-24Newly married couple Juliette and ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'Atalante along with the captain's first mate and a cabin boy.More...
Moby Dick1956-06-27In 1841, young Ishmael signs up for service aboard the Pequod, a whaler sailing out of New Bedford. The ship is under the command of Captain Ahab, a strict disciplinarian who exhorts his men to find Moby Dick, the great white whale. Ahab lost his leg to that creature and is desperate for revenge. As the crew soon learns, he will stop at nothing to gain satisfaction.More...
Last Year at Marienbad1961-05-25In a strange and isolated chateau, a man becomes acquainted with a woman and insists that they have met before.More...
Similar Movies
Killer Diller
2004-01-01A guitar playing car thief meets an autistic savant piano player, and together they transform a group of reluctant halfway house convicts into The Killer Diller Blues Band.Melody
1971-12-22Although Gainsbourg and Birkin had appeared in a string of films since their magnetic collision in Pierre Grimblat’s Slogan, Melody was a bit of diversion from their collaborations since it’s a series of interwoven videos inspired by the Gainsbourgalbum. For '71 it’s a novel concept to bring visual life to an LP, but even more surprising are the short film’s amazing visuals that director Averty crafted using a wealth of video filters, overlays, camera movements and chroma key effects. Averty applies these in tandem with the increasing tone of Gainsbourg’s songs, which more or less chronicle an older man's affair with a young girl. Each song is comprised of steady, sometimes brooding poetic delivery, with refrains timed to the phrase repeats of each song, while Alan Parker’s buzzing guitar accompanies and wiggles around Gainsbourg’s resonant voice. The bass is fat and groovy, the drums easy but steady, and the periodic use of strings or rich vibrato makes this short a sultry little gem.The Second Mother
2015-06-04After leaving her daughter Jessica in a small town in Pernambuco to be raised by relatives, Val spends the next 13 years working as a nanny to Fabinho in São Paulo. She has financial stability but has to live with the guilt of having not raised Jessica herself. As Fabinho’s university entrance exams approach, Jessica reappears in her life and seems to want to give her mother a second chance. However, Jessica has not been raised to be a servant and her very existence will turn Val’s routine on its head. With precision and humour, the subtle and powerful forces that keep rigid class structures in place and how the youth may just be the ones to shake it all up.The European Dream
2018-04-19A metaphorical love story about the dream of peace, freedom and solidarity in Europe, with the reality of right-wing politics and terror trying to destroy it.Leaving Loveland
No data for this movieAs Mio goes on a journey to Loveland to find closure, an incident occurs, giving him new hope for his heart to shine again. A story about the importance of loving and coping, of hearts connecting and separating.The Book of Wonders
2023-03-15This is the crazy bet of a mother ready to do anything to help her 12-year-old son, Louis, wake up from his coma. After Louis' accident, Thelma decides to do for him the "10 things to do before the end of the world" that he had written in his diary. By listening to these adventures, Louis will see how beautiful life is and that he must come back! By fulfilling a teenager's dreams at the age of forty, Thelma will experience an incredible journey that will take her farther than she ever imagined.Four Last Songs
2007-01-11A comic drama set on a Mediterranean island, where a motley collection of characters is seeking musical redemption.American Dreamz
2006-03-04The new season of "American Dreamz," the wildly popular television singing contest, has captured the country's attention, as the competition looks to be between a young Midwestern gal and a showtunes-loving young man from Orange County. Recently awakened President Staton even wants in on the craze, as he signs up for the potential explosive season finale.That Thing You Do!
1996-10-04A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager. But behind the scenes, the group’s sudden fame tests their strength, their maturity and responsibility, and their ability to resist the temptations that money and notoriety always make possible.One Hour Late
1934-12-14A secretary catches the eye of her amorous boss while her regular boyfriend keeps trying to propose marriage to her.Child of the Danube
1950-05-15Marika is a cheerful girl who lives on the Danube aboard an old barge she inherited from her father. She works as a waitress in her aunt's inn, entertaining the guests with singing and dancing. Her greatest dream is to save enough money to repair the old barge and sail down the Danube. One day, she meets three young artists, Georg, Oskar, and Christoph, who all fall in love with her. Together, they put on an open-air revue and raise the necessary money. And with Georg, Marika is lucky in love.Rock N' Roll
2007-11-16Chandramouli, an international drummer, goes to Chennai to help his friend in his new project. However, his life turns upside down when he falls in love with a playback singer.Center Stage
2000-05-12A group of 12 teenagers from various backgrounds enroll at the American Ballet Academy in New York to make it as ballet dancers and each one deals with the problems and stress of training and getting ahead in the world of dance.Pocahontas
1995-06-16Pocahontas, daughter of a Native American tribe chief, falls in love with an English soldier as colonists invade 17th century Virginia.À Festa. À Guerra.
2015-01-01There is no descriptionThe Adventures of Rob...
1938-05-13Robin Hood fights nobly for justice against the evil Sir Guy of Gisbourne while striving to win the hand of the beautiful Maid Marian.High School Musical
2006-01-20A popular high school athlete and an academically gifted girl get roles in the school musical and develop a friendship that threatens East High's social order.Faust
1926-10-13God and Satan wager on the soul of a learned and prayerful alchemist as part of their eternal war over Earth.Run Uje Run
2020-12-18Uje, a pop star in the 1990s, gets diagnosed with Parkinson's. This is a film about his everyday struggles.High School Musical 3...
2008-10-11As seniors in high school, Troy and Gabriella struggle with the idea of being separated from one another as college approaches. Along with the rest of the Wildcats, they stage a spring musical to address their experiences, hopes and fears about their future.