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Black Orpheus

The film that introduced Bossa Nova to the world...

7.0 / 10

100 minutes

1959-06-12

Portuguese

BR

Actors :

Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn, Lourdes de Oliveira, Léa Garcia, Adhemar Ferreira da Silva, Waldetar De Souza, Alexandre Constantino, Jorge Dos Santos, Aurino Cassiano, Maria Alice, Marcel Camus, Fausto Guerzoni, Thereza Santos, Zeni Pereira, Elizeth Cardoso

Description

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

CinemaSerf

2/12/2024, 8:27:04 AM

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 ...